The Werebear
by 24hrdaydreamer
Summary: A bella/alice with my oc character as one of bella's friends. Just another fun fic that deals with character development and an introduction of a new species. Some language expected and nudity, but nothing eye popping. a/b kind of an AU
1. One

**Hey guys! So this is a Bella/Alice fic with a main OC who is a werebear. I really wanted to expand the universe beyond just werewolves and vampires into other creatures without taking away from the story. I'm sure everyone else has read the solstice saga and a few other good bellice ones, so some of my character development is inspired from them... **

**A little about me: I have _horrible_ grammar…really…. so expect some mistakes because I'm still learning how to use commas…. yeah….**

**Also, I am a procrastinator so I will try to write this all in one shot, but it may take longer and you might not hear from me for months, just be forewarned…. Also, I don't own any Twilight stuff; if I did I would change it to being Bella/Alice since Edward is so angsty…**

**Note: This first chapter is really long just because it was really fun writing a back-story, so it just kept getting longer and longer, sorry about that. Also just learning how to upload things so sorry if the spacing is off...**

One

The forest was damp and lush and the smell of moist soil filled the air. Dew rested on mossy rocks and small birds chirped unseen from the towering trees above. The occasional deer flitted through the forest almost soundlessly along small trails that only it could follow. Elsewhere in the forest squirrels chattered to each other, discussing among other things the advent of fall brought on by the changing of the winds, and the shortening of the days as the sun retreated to bed earlier and earlier than the day previous. The squirrels were interrupted in their gossip at the sound of two humans crashing through the forest. The first was a male, lumbering on carrying a sizable pack on its back and smelling of steak and eggs. The second was a small child, skipping along and occasionally stopping to peer at a tree or pick up a stick. While the adult male did not seem to notice the squirrels sitting in their perch, the small child did, and let out a delighted squeal that promptly drove any creature close enough to hear deeper into the forest away from the child. As the squirrels vanished, the child returned once more to walking behind her father, this time slower with a face that, if the father could have seen, spoke of an imminent arriving tantrum.

Seven-year-old Bella Swan walked through the forest looking for more squirrels. So far, her hike with her father Charlie hadn't yielded any sightings of any animals other than squirrels. She pouted slightly and dragged her feet in catching up with her father. Her dad had suggested taking a hike in the national park and they had spent the morning in the car driving to Port Angeles and going to the national park. It wasn't that the walk wasn't fun; she had met a few kids on the hike who were from different states and were visiting Washington for the first time. She had proudly explained to a wide eyed young boy from Connecticut that while she and her mother lived in Arizona, she visited her father in Forks during the summer and thus got to live in both states. Of course she didn't tell the boy that this was only her second time visiting her father during the summer without her mother flying with her, and that she hated the weather in Washington, because she decided it would seem more grown up to live in two different states and travel on a plane by herself (which wasn't really true).

But Bella found the weather in Forks too cold and wet, and while she appreciated the greenery and the interesting animals that lived here, she would much rather prefer to be in sunny Arizona with her mother. It wasn't that her father hadn't tried to make her trip fun. They went out to eat and went down to La Push, where Bella had a few friends, but Bella was lonely in Forks and aside from Rachel, Rebecca, and Jacob, there wasn't much to do in the small town.

Charlie had flown all the way out to Phoenix to pick up Bella, and while Bella had whined that she would rather go alone because she was a big girl, secretly she was glad that her father had held her hand when the plane took off. When they landed in Port Angeles Bella nearly died of embarrassment from riding in her father's police cruiser back from Port Angeles to Forks. Her father joked that she was an escaped convict and that he was transporting her back to headquarters. Bella thought she looked nothing like a prisoner, rather a small girl who could barely see out of the backseat window dying of embarrassment as her father called in on the radio 'I've got that girl and am returning to the base, roger that'.

Bella picked up a good sized walking stick and walked a few paces with it, alternately knocking her stick against trees or stabbing them into muddy puddles. Charlie turned around at the sound, as if remembering his daughter's presence.

"Bella, shush, we don't want to disturb the birds." He said as he pointed up into the trees. Bella looked upward but couldn't see anything, but she put the stick down and continued walking, tugging at Charlie's pant leg to get him to keep walking.

"How much longer?" She asked, unable to keep the slight whine out of her voice. Her father had promised that they would reach a waterfall soon, and then a picnic area at the crossroads of several different trails. Bella wasn't quite sure what crossroads meant, but she didn't feel like asking.

"Just a little bit, can't you hear the water? When we get to the waterfall there might be other kids there. And maybe some coffee and a bathroom." Bella wasn't supposed to hear the last part, so she nodded and pretended to dart on ahead, forcing Charlie to move faster. They had been walking for most of the morning, as soon as they had left the car, and they hadn't stopped. The trail with the green circle that Charlie and Bella had taken crisscrossed with several of the other trails, and was a general loop around a portion of the forest ending back at the park entrance. The trail had at first been gravel, and in some places boardwalks which Bella enjoyed running over, but later they became pine needle covered trails and the only other people Charlie and Bella saw were far off, taking a different route. Now with the possibility of meeting up with other people, Bella no longer felt tired, she felt like a survivor in a foreign jungle re-entering society.

A few minutes later the waterfall was reached, it was a small one, but the stony river had a wide enough section that several kids were already swimming in it when Bella and Charlie arrived. Bella shyly sat on a stone letting her feet dangle in the water; she hadn't thought to bring a bathing suit. Charlie, after making sure Bella was settled, left to get coffee and use the bathroom at the small rest stand that was erected a few yards from the river.

Bella sat by herself, her previous braveness gone as she watched the kids play in the water. They obviously all knew each other, and they hadn't noticed Bella at all. That suited her. She was sitting and pretending to be interested with her sneakers when she noticed a silvery fish dart in front of her and further down the river. Glancing up she noticed that Charlie was not back, so she quietly got up and followed the fish. The river took a small turn, and the other children were hidden by some scraggly bushes, but Bella could still hear them so she wasn't worried.

The river was surrounded by low bushes and rocks stuck out of the water in random jagged points. In the middle of the river, however, perched on a large rock was a woman. When Bella had rounded the corner, the woman had been basking in the now bright sunlight, but now she turned to look at Bella with a gentle yet serious face. Bella turned a bright red as she turned around to return to the other children, but the stranger just chuckled and turned back towards the river. With the stranger not looking at her, Bella watched her more closely.

The woman was very tall, Bella guessed a lot taller than her father, with lightly tanned skin covered in a multitude of scars. Her body was lithe and muscular; she looked like she didn't have an ounce of fat on her, and her muscles rippled whenever she moved. She was dressed simply in cargo pants and a t-shirt, but she no wore shoes, and despite the constant rain chilled weather in Washington she didn't carry a jacket or any other belongings. The thing Bella couldn't stop staring at however, was her hair. It was a shocking white, and surrounded by mossy rocks and lush forests the stranger stood out like a beacon. Bella inched closer and the stranger, splashing her feet in the water, lazily looked over again and grinned. Bella stopped short and almost covered her hands with her mouth, but instantly dropped them and blushed. Although the stranger's hair stood out, it was nothing compared to the horrible mutilating scars around her neck. The scars were of varying width and depth, but it looked like the woman's neck had been gouged out by a large animal, or like someone had viciously ripped the layers off the woman's skin so it would never heal.

Noticing Bella staring, the woman smiled gently but didn't comment and turned back to the river. Perhaps, Bella thought, she could not talk because of the horrible scars around her neck. Or she might not speak English; she did look out of place compared to the others who usually came to hike. Bella hung by the bank shyly, and the stranger made no indication that she noticed the seven year old girl gawking at her. Bella looked uncomfortably at her shoes as the woman continued to bask in the sun, but she couldn't find anything to say. She noticed the silver fish dart out of the shadows of a log and into the sunlight. It sparkled and swam tantalizingly close to the shore. Bella bent down, and watched as the fish flashed and shimmered against the sun. When it swam away, Bella frowned and stepped out onto one of the many rocks in the river. Carefully she balanced on it as she looked for the fish. Then she heard a chuckle. The strange woman had been watching her, and now beckoned to the rock she was sitting on. Bella frowned. Her father had taught her not to trust strangers, and although the woman seemed nice she was probably strong enough to pick up Bella by the arm and throw her over her shoulder and carry her away. But the woman beckoned again and this time gestured first to the rock and then to the water in front of the rock. Curiosity got the best of Bella and she hopped from rock to rock towards the woman.

She stood an arm's length away from the stranger, and now she could see why the stranger had called her over. A school of silver fish was swimming in a small part of the river sheltered by the shade of the big rock, protected from the current and any predators. Bella squatted and watched the fish with fascination, occasionally reaching her hand out to create shadows on the water causing the fish to scatter. Bella laughed and leaned forward more, extending her hand outward to touch the water. Her footing slipped, and Bella could feel herself falling backwards. Before a cry could leave her lips, a strong arm shot out and grabbed her by the waist and pulled her up. Once righted, it took a few seconds for Bella to realize that the strange woman now held her by the waist and was frowning at her.

"Thanks" Bella squeaked, and she removed herself from the stranger's gentle grip and stood on a less slippery rock. The woman sighed and sat back on the large rock, but her eyes drifted to Bella occasionally with a subtle frown on her lips.

A few minutes passed, and Bella stood, no longer interested in the fish, but interested in the stranger on the rock. She slowly made her way over, and sat next to the stranger, her eyes moving immediately to her scarred neck and then to her face. The woman gazed back at Bella with dark brown, almost black eyes, not with an unkind expression, but one Bella had seen on her parents a few times. Bella was naturally a klutz, and usually after she fell and grazed her knee, her parents would give her the same 'I better watch you because you'll end up hurting yourself' look. Bella giggled quietly and the stranger turned to look at her.

"I'm Bella, what's your name?" Bella asked, scooting closer. The stranger gave a crooked grin and bent down to the water. She dipped her hand in the water briefly and brought it back to the rock. Bella watched as the woman spelled her name out with her finger on the rock.

"S-s-s-Sula?" Bella read, and the stranger gave another crooked grin. Bella looked again at the letters, evaporating slowly until only the 'l' and 'a' were visible.

"Do you live near here?" Bella asked. The stranger shook her head. Bella blushed and looked down, gnawing on a strand of her hair slightly. It was a habit she had picked up at school that her teacher discouraged, but every once in a while she forgot.

"Is your hair really white? I mean is it your natural color?" Bella blurted out. The stranger gave a raspy chuckle and nodded, a wide crooked grin spread across her face.

"Bella? Bella?" Charlie's desperate voice could be heard clearly over the water. Bella jumped up.

"I'm sorry, I have to go. Coming daddy!" Bella turned and dashed over the rocks, carefully avoiding the wet ones as she made it safely back to the bank. The stranger watched her with a small smile as Bella scampered up the bank only to fall flat on her face. The stranger frowned and made a motion to get up, but Bella was back up her feet and still running towards the clearing where the other children were playing. She turned, and blushed slightly as she noticed the woman still watching her. She waved and the stranger smiled back before Bella ran out of sight.

Bella didn't tell her father about the stranger she met. Instead on the hike back, listening to Charlie lecture her about not running off, Bella kept looking towards the river hoping to catch a glimpse of the strange woman basking on the rocks. The whole car ride home Bella was silent; she had decided to keep the story of the mysterious woman a secret, but every summer when Charlie took her hiking Bella always looked for the mysterious woman. When Charlie asked about Bella's fascination with rivers, she responded that she was merely looking for silver fish.

**Just some background on bella right after the divorce, I haven't started chapter 2 so it might be a few months (sorry) since I'm slow and trying to catch up on game of thrones and downton abbey... I will describe how my oc character sula looks later, and... yeah I still don't know what I want for the beginning of the story, I have the middle and end but I haven't figured out the beginning. Sorry if I screwed up the spacing and documents, still figuring out how to upload and stuff... I've only ever read on this site, never tried to publish...  
**


	2. Two

Two

**Mmmm so I've had trouble with spacing, but after looking at the forums I realize it is a common problem, so I am grudgingly going to let it slide, so you might find lots of spacing instead of little…. Anyway…. I started chapter two shortly after I finished chapter one, but I don't know when I will publish it since with school and work it took me three months to actually sit down and write chapter one. And ahead of time, sorry if my Twilight facts are not accurate, I will try to do as much research as possible but it is not in my nature because I consider this a slight diversion from the reality of the book…. Ok a big diversion since Edward is not the love interest… but specific character facts sometimes I am unclear on, so roll with it in an assumption that this is a slightly different version… I don't own anything.  
**

Bella Swan sat awkwardly in the passenger seat of her father's police cruiser as he drove towards his house in Forks. Correction, t_heir_ house in Forks. Her father had picked her up at the airport in Port Angeles and the entire drive towards Forks had been filled with awkward silence. It was bad enough that she couldn't think of anything to say to Charlie, but the trip had been unusually slow, making driving with Charlie a new form of cruel and unusual punishment. When other drivers saw that they were being followed by a police car, they would slow down out of pure instinct, making the drive back to Forks twice as long, and twice as silent.

Ever since Bella had had a say in the matter, Charlie had been the one to visit her over the summer, as Bella preferred to stay away from the dreary and depressing Forks. Although Bella didn't look it, she enjoyed living in a warm sunny climate, but onlookers would never know. Her skin was pale and it contrasted sharply with her dark brown hair that fell past her shoulders, and others might say Bella spent most of her time away from the sun, but Bella didn't tan.

She shifted uncomfortably in the seat; her green raincoat that Renee had insisted on wearing made its presence known with a scraping sound. The sound of nylon rubbing against nylon was unpleasant, but her mother had insisted that Bella brought her rain jacket with her as a carryon onto the plane. And Bella was sincerely glad she had because as soon as she stepped out of the warm airport terminal she realized that it was raining.

"So umm, how did school go this year Bells?" Charlie asked, clearing his throat slightly and turning to glance at Bella before looking back at the road, both hands on the wheel as it were a life preserver.

"Not too bad, I didn't take many hard classes but I got all A's." Bella said. She glanced sideways at her father who seemed to be trying to come up with something else to say, so she decided to rescue him.

"Do you think the classes are going to be hard in Forks?" She asked.

"No, well I mean you should try hard and do well, but I don't think the high school is very different from the one back in Phoenix." Charlie said quickly, letting his hands relax for a moment before gripping the wheel again. Bella almost rolled her eyes. _Yeah right, the courses may be the same but the size difference and location are way different_ she thought.

"How are your mom and.. .Phil doing?" Charlie asked, trying to maintain the conversation but simultaneously looking like he'd prefer silence.

"They're both fine, Phil's nice." Bella said quietly as she watched a car slow down to the speed limit once the driver noticed a police cruiser following them. Charlie nodded and shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

Bella watched the windshield wipers wipe away the rain that struck the car; she focused on the spot near the bottom of the glass where the blades never struck. You know the spot, the triangle, the one spot where snow gets stuck on in the winter, and the one spot that doesn't get washed when you spray the glass with windshield wiper fluid. That spot. Bella realized that this might be a premonition of sorts to the boredom of living in Forks, would she be so bored as to stare at a spot on the windshield for a car ride? Maybe. The scenery was lush and green, but there was something monotonous about the way the green sped alongside the car, in an ever-present line alongside the road. The only thing that separated the forest from the road was the guard rail, dented and rusted, but it kept the forest at bay. Bella turned to glance out the window, watching the trees whip and looking deep into the forest to see if she could see something, anything. In Phoenix there were houses everywhere, people everywhere, braving the heat of the day to go about their daily lives. In Forks, all you saw was trees.

A sudden flash of brown stood out from the trees, Bella whipped her head around to look back and almost strained her neck as she gazed out the window to catch of a glimpse of the moving object. Whatever it was, it was large, and furry.

"Hey Charlie, I mean Dad, did you see that?" She asked, still craning her neck to see through the forest, although she knew it was probably gone.

"I'm driving Bells, I didn't see it. What did you see?" Charlie asked without looking sideways.

"I don't know it was large and furry and moving through the trees." Bella said, her voice muffled as she pressed her check against the head rest to turn her body better towards the back of the car.

"It was probably a bear. People see them around here sometimes."

"Yeah but it was big, like really big. And I think it had a tail. Bears don't have tails." Bella muttered, giving up and facing forwards again. She felt a little motion sick facing backwards while Charlie was driving.

"If you say so, but it was just a wild animal. They won't bother you." Charlie said and then frowned as he looked into his rearview mirror. A car was speeding towards them at a breakneck pace, and crossed over into the other lane to pass them. In a matter of seconds the car passed them and speed onward, seemingly unaware that they had just passed a cop car.

"Hey bud, you just tried to pass a cop! Bad idea." Charlie growled and turned on his siren before flooring the gas and quickly tailing the other car. Bella sank down in her seat, of all days. When she was a child she might have been excited at the prospect of being with her dad chasing down a speeder. But now it was just embarrassing. When Charlie finally managed to get the speeder to slow and pull over, Bella sank lower in her seat pulled her hood up. There was no way she was taking the chance that the driver might be a future classmate and would recognize her later on.

Charlie got out of the cruiser grumbling with his note pad after calling to the dispatch that he had caught a speeder.

"Sorry Bells, won't take a moment." He said and scowled as he approached the other car. It was a beat up sedan, with the trunk a different color than the body of the car, and one of the back windows duct taped with plastic instead of glass.

Bella watched as Charlie leaned over, taking the drivers license and registration. He did a good job of appearing gruff and stoic, but Bella knew that while no criminal could ever make Charlie flinch, Renee could mold Charlie like putty in her hands. Charlie returned to the cruiser and opened the small laptop that came equipped with his car. He typed on it, supposedly looking up the driver's history for any felonies or previous arrests, but found none. The car was silent except for the sound of Charlie typing away at the keys. Finally he grunted and got out of the car, slamming the car door a little harder than necessary. He walked up to the driver and began writing his ticket. While Bella couldn't see the drivers face very well, the driver seemed to notice that there was someone else in the police cruiser. The drivers head turned and glanced through the rearview mirror, and Bella blushed and slouched down further, turning her head to the side to prevent the penetrating eyes from watching her. The height of the driver told her nothing, but the quick glimpse of the face that Bella got told her that the driver was around her age. Great. Bella now was almost certain that she would see the driver at school, and the while she may not remember him; the driver sure would remember her. How hard would it be, being the only new face in town in probably a decade.

Charlie returned to the cruiser and sat with a heavy sigh. He watched the driver pull out slowly and then drive off exactly the speed limit.

"Umm, dad, that wasn't someone from school, was it?" Bella asked quietly, still mortified at the thought that she might see the driver in school the next day.

"Yeah, but I don't think he's in your grade Bells so you might not see him." Charlie said, trying to sound comforting but it sounded false. Both he and Bella knew that the chances of Bella running into the driver were very high considering the size of Forks High School.

The drive after the incident with the speeder was much shorter, and soon Bella saw the 'Welcome To Forks' sign as they entered the town. Or what could be considered a town. As the police cruiser drove down one of the main streets people turned to glance in at the car. When they saw Bella, they pointed and talked to each other in low voices, as if Bella and Charlie would somehow be able to hear them through the car if they didn't lower the volume.

Charlie drove through the town until they reached a less populated road, slowing as they passed a few houses nestled in between the trees. As Charlie stopped and turned on his turn signal, an action Bella thought unnecessary because they were the only ones on the road, Bella was almost surprised to see that they had arrived.

The house was the same as Bella remembered, but it seemed smaller. That was probably because Bella had grown bigger, but Bella thought that some of the magic she had remembered the house to be as a child had disappeared. The house was small and cozy, white painted shingles and a forlorn looking yard. Bella guessed that the house hadn't changed since Renee moved out, and it saddened her a little that her father had faithfully kept the house in the same state as it had been left as though waiting for her mother to come back.

In front of the house however, was a monstrous truck. Bella got out of the car, lugging her bag with her, but stood staring at the truck.

"I got this for you, as a 'welcome home' present." Charlie said nervously. He stood running his hands through his hair and looking at Bella.

"Thanks Charlie, I love it." Bella said, and she wasn't lying. Sure the truck might be old clunky looking, but there was something steady about it, honest. She walked up to it, running her hands along it's hood and pausing briefly to rub a smudge off of the Chevrolet emblem on the front.

"Where did you get it?" She asked, walking around the truck to glance into the interior.

"Well Billy Black, you remember his children right? You played with Rachel and Rebecca and Jacob when you were younger, anyway, he didn't need it so I bought it off of him." Bella nodded and then her stomach growled slightly. She turned away from the truck and began walking up to the house.

"Let me make lunch Bells, you can unpack your things." Charlie said eagerly, but Bella blanched at the thought.

"No it's fine Charlie, I'll make lunch, just give me a few minutes." Bella said, before entering the house and turning to go up the stairs. The house was the same as Bella remembered it, living room with the same furniture and television, and a kitchen that looked practically unused. Bella walked up the stairs, noticing that the only pictures on the walls were of her as a child and some photos of Charlie fishing with Billy. She entered her room hesitantly; the room was the same as it was when she left, with the substation of a small child's bed with a full sized one. The sheets were new and the room looked like it had been cleaned recently. Bella placed her bags on the ground and looked around. A computer sat on her desk, an older model, but a nice gesture. Stuck to her window were a few animal stickers, remnants of her childhood. A full dresser had replaced a dolls house, not that Bella had ever played with the doll's house as a child, and a bookcase half empty sat in a corner, the bottom few shelves full of picture books.

Bella made quick work of unpacking, un-mercilessly shoving her clothes into her dresser and hanging her coats up into the closet. She placed her ipod and the few books she brought on her night stand, and then took her shower bag into the bathroom. The bathroom looked like a guy's bathroom, no doubt. The seat was up and Charlie's shaving cream and razor were sitting next to the sink, next to a slightly hairy toothbrush. Gross. Bella quickly put her things in the cabinet and organized the mess of towels and various bottles and vitamins lying around the bathroom.

With a sigh Bella walked downstairs, only to be met with the smell of something burning, and after a few seconds, the smoke detector going off. Bella rushed into the kitchen to see Charlie, with one hand waving a dish rag in front of the smoke detector, and with the other hand trying to get charcoal burnt sausages off the pan. Bella ran over to help, first turning off the burner and then taking another dish rag and waving in front of the smoke detector to increase air circulation to get the noise to stop. Then she glared at Charlie, well not a full glare but a 'what were you thinking' look.

"Sorry Bella, I was just trying to help. I thought I could cook up some sausages and toast for a quick lunch." As if on cue, the toaster dinged and two pieces of charcoal black toast popped out. Charlie glanced at the toast and grimaced, and then groaned when the smoke detector went off again. Both he and Bella flailed their arms wildly to dissipate the smoky air, and Bella quickly moved to open a window. She ushered Charlie out of the kitchen, he was just a hazard, assuring him that she didn't mind doing the cooking and she had everything under control. Charlie went back to watching a football game, one of the reasons why he probably burnt the food in the first place, and Bella was left alone to repair what was left of lunch. She started by throwing everything away.

Charlie's fridge was unsurprisingly bare. Frozen dinners, leftovers, and condiments dominated the shelves, and Bella didn't see a vegetable in site. Sighing she opened a cupboard and found a few boxes of good old mac and cheese. She opened two boxes and inspected them, wincing slightly at the expiration date.

"Hey Charlie, uh I mean Dad? I think we might have to order out or something, or go to the grocery store." Charlie looked sheepishly up from his beer and game.

"That bad? Tell you what, why don't I order pizza, and maybe later you can take a test drive with your truck around town and stop by the grocery store on your way home." Bella nodded and handed Charlie the phone before going back upstairs. She turned on the ancient computer and sent her mother an email telling her she had arrived in Forks, she would call her later.

With nothing to do, Bella lay on her bed and fell into a half asleep half awake state. She could hear the game downstairs, and she could hear Charlie ordering pizza and shuffling around the living room, but her eyes were heavy with sleep and she didn't stir. This was Bella's favorite kind of napping, just letting her body relax and her mind settle, but still conscious of her surroundings, but at peace.

The sound of someone knocking on the door woke Bella up. It only felt like a few minutes since she had fallen asleep, but the persistent drizzle outside made it almost impossible to tell how long she slept. As if first noticing the clock beside her bed, Bella glanced at it. It had only been twenty minutes. Bella heard Charlie talking with the pizza delivery boy, probably the only one in all of Forks, and the door closed.

"Bells? Foods here." Bella got up stiffly and walked downstairs. Charlie handed her a plate with two slices of pizza on it.

"Thanks, I think I'm going to eat and then go food shopping." She said. Bella heard Charlie give a grunt, and assumed that Charlie had given Bella the green light. Charlie was sitting in front of the television again, one hand holding the pizza and the other a beer.

Bella finished her pizza and put her raincoat back on. She walked over to the key bowl and dug through it.

"Bells." Charlie's voice was muffled as he had just put a piece of pizza in his mouth, but he gestured to the hooks on the wall. Two keys hung there, a house key and a car key, and Bella took them. She picked up the cash that lay on the counter for groceries and yelled goodbye to Charlie who nodded, and then walked out of the house towards her truck.

Getting in her truck, Bella put her foot on the clutch and inserted the keys. The car gave a loud rumbling groan, like an animal protesting as it awoke.

Bella drove slowly to the grocery store, noting how quickly the town came and went, flashing by her truck in an instant. Bella pulled up to the store and parked next to a flashy Mercedes.

As Bella walked down the aisle, practically stuffing the whole store into her cart, she heard a laugh. She turned around and came to face a beautiful woman. Caramel colored hair and a pale heart shaped face, a woman. A beautiful woman. Bella blushed slightly as the woman pushed her own cart towards her.

"Having a big party?" The woman asked her voice gentle and warm, her light golden eyes sparkling. Bella blushed again.

"No, just restocking. Charlie, err, my father can't cook." Bella mumbled, looking down slightly as the kind woman continued to chuckle. Bella studied the woman with eyes downcast. She was dressed simply but elegantly, and her dark clothes made her pale skin stand out even more. Her eyes were an intriguing gold color, and warmth practically radiated from her persona. Even though Bella barely knew the woman, she relaxed slightly and allowed herself a smile. The woman smiled widely back.

"Forgive my manners, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Esme Cullen, and I assume that you're the Chiefs daughter?" Bella nodded and blushed, but held out her hand for a handshake. Esme hesitated for a fraction of a second and then held out her own hand to shake Bella's gently. Bella almost shivered, despite the woman's warming personality her hand was anything but warm. Esme withdrew her hand gently but continued to gaze at Bella.

"I'm Bella, Bella Swan. Uhh, you have a pretty full cart yourself." Said Bella, politely keeping the conversation away from the woman's cold temperature.

"Oh yes well, I have five hungry teenagers to feed." Esme said with a laugh. Bella's eyes bulged.

"Five?" Esme continued to laugh, but Bella could only stare at the woman. If _she _had five children she doubt she would be able to even think straight, let alone laugh about it.

"Oh yes, I have three sons and two daughters, but I love them all dearly, and they don't _always_ cause trouble." Said Esme breezily, and her expression seemed to be caught between love and exasperation, or maybe a combination of both. Bella laughed along with the stranger, and then tried to subtly glance at her watch. It wasn't that she was bored by the conversation with the woman, but she knew that Charlie would be wondering where she was, and most likely hungry. Esme saw her though and gave a knowing nod.

"I should let you go dear; Chief Swan will probably be getting hungry. I'm sure you will meet my children at school so I'll tell them to say hi to you." Esme said cheerfully, moving her cart so Bella could pass. Bella nodded in thanks and blushed as she said her goodbyes before leaving to the checkout. She saw Esme at the checkout counter across from her, and Bella waved awkwardly while Esme smiled warmly back. Esme pushed her cart out the store first while Bella collected her change and receipt, but by the time Bella stepped out of the grocery store with her bags, Esme was already gone, as was the Mercedes.

Bella drove home just as it was getting dark. Of course it got dark much earlier because it was raining and the sky was already overcast, but just as Bella pulled in Charlie appeared at the door to help with the bags. Dinner was uneventful, quiet, but Bella didn't mind. Charlie helped her with the dishes and then returned to one of his games, and Bella went upstairs to dread about going to school the following day. She lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling listening to her ipod, unexcited about going to a new school. What was there to love? Small school, dreary weather, nothing exciting was bound to happen, and Bella knew she wouldn't fit in just as she hadn't at her old school. She drifted off to sleep still in her clothes, her desk light still on, and her ipod still playing music to match the rainy weather outside.

**Ok guys, that was record speed for chapter 2 considering I tried not to procrastinate as much. I tried to email the document to my work, but the word is so old at the computer at work I couldn't even open it. Tomorrow Bella will meet the rest of the cullens and alice. I've looked at some of the questions and here are the answers:**

**Yes the werebear is Sula, who Bella met when she was younger, I hadn't actually thought about making Bella a werebear but I will consider it as the story progresses.**

**This is a alice and bella fanfic, just because I love alice so much, but I also wanted Edward to be a less broody character (similar to hollowgo's depiction where he is a likeable character)**

_**Finally a question:**_

**What do the Cullens smell like? I know their individual scents are all floral, but what do they and human bella smell like? I haven't read the books since they came out, and I read them in a library within a week, so my grasp on the actual story is a little fuzzy in places….. if someone could help me out that would be great. Thanks!**


	3. Three

Three

**Hi guys, chapter three is here. I've started writing chapters at work and sending them to myself via email. I realize that in the actual books Bella starts school in Jan. But here it is somewhere around mid November, just so we can do Thanksgiving and Christmas with the Cullens. _Also confession:_ I haven't actually read the last twilight book (sorry for all you diehards) so the plot is going to be roughly parallel to the first book but going to branch off after a little bit. Let me know what you guys think. I don't own anything.  
**

Bella's alarm clock blared in her ears. She knew that if she rolled over and ignored it, eventually she would drown it out and oversleep, so she forced herself to sit up and turn it off. Still sitting, Bella glanced out the window. A rainy and cloudy day. _What a surprise_ Bella thought. She forced herself to remain upright, because she knew if she lay down again she would immediately fall asleep and be late for school. School. Bella gave a groan and threw off her covers. In Phoenix the nights were cooler, but certainly not cold, and Bella usually slept with only a sheet to cover her and a fan to keep her room cool. Now she had a large comforter which she pushed aside as she stepped onto the cool floor with her bare feet. She made her bed and began to get ready for the day. She glanced out of the window at the overcast skies, the damp pavement indicating it had rained during the night. Bella didn't remember her dream from last night, but it had taken her a while to fall asleep. The sound of the rain had kept her up a while, but she had finally fallen asleep out of pure exhaustion, but what she had dreamed about she had no idea.

She heard Charlie coming up the stairs, and she waited for him to quietly knock on her door.

"I'm awake; I'll be down in a minute." She called, and she heard Charlie shuffling away, tromping down the stairs to listen to the morning news and drink coffee.

Bella quickly threw her things into her backpack. She didn't have any books, but she threw a few notebooks and pencils in the bottom, grimacing at how the light backpack would soon fill with heavy books that afternoon. She casually threw on some gray jeans and a t-shirt with a hoodie, uncaring of whether anything she wore matched. She glanced out of her window again, but the overcast sky told her nothing about the weather. In Phoenix it was either hot, or hotter. In Forks, Bella supposed it was the opposite, rainy or rainier.

She walked downstairs to where Charlie was sitting, watching the morning news while sipping his coffee. Bella walked into the kitchen, dumping her backpack on one of the kitchen chairs before heading for the fridge. She had bought milk and juice yesterday, but one glance at the fridge told her Charlie had touched neither. He hadn't touched the fruit in the fruit bowl either, but Bella took two apples out and placed them on the counter. She ate the apple slowly and made some toast, watching the news with Charlie in a comfortable silence.

"So Bella, I probably won't be home when you get back, paperwork and such so don't worry about making dinner." Charlie said, sipping his coffee and not even glancing at the apple Bella had placed on the table.

"That's fine; I was planning on making stew so you can always have it tomorrow." Bella said with a shrug. She pushed the apple closer to Charlie, but he didn't seem to notice.

"That's nice Bells; you can get to school by yourself alright?" He said, tearing his eyes away from the weather to look at her. Bella nodded and picked up the apple and handed it to him.

"Yup, I drove by it yesterday so I know where I'm going." Bella lied on that one. She hadn't driven by the school, but she knew where it was from looking on the map of Forks. Did Charlie think she was five? Charlie took the apple and took a bite out of it.

"Well I gotta go to work, so have a good first day of school Bells." He affectionately ruffled her hair before he got up and picked up his keys before heading towards the door. Bella fixed her hair and brought her plate to the sink. She glanced at the table to see the bitten apple still sitting there. Sighing she picked up the apple and grabbed her bag. She pulled on her rain jacket on over her sweatshirt and grabbed her keys from the hook. Walking outside, she turned and locked the front door before heading towards her truck. With the apple still in her hand she reached her truck and unlocked the door. She turned, and tossed the apple as hard as she could into the woods around her house. She got into her truck and pulled out of the driveway toward school.

Bella arrived at Forks High School a few minutes before the bell rang. The parking lot was already half full, but Bella found a parking spot close to the entrance next to a red BMW. She got out of her truck with her backpack and immediately blushed as she realized that people were already staring at her. She tried to act nonchalant, but the other students continued to stare, and whisper to each other, so she awkwardly began walking towards the schools entrance. Her hair fell to make a curtain over her eyes, and she walked at a measured pace toward the building.

From her side, a voice spoke and caught Bella by surprise. She jumped a little and turned to the side quickly to look at the source of the voice. A tall Asian boy stood, grinning eagerly at her.

"Hi, you're Chief Swan's daughter right? Isabella? I'm Eric." Bella winced slightly at the use of her full name, but took Eric's outstretched hand and shook it. He didn't seem like a bad kid, if not a little too excited to meet her.

"Yeah, and I prefer Bella." Eric nodded encouragingly.

"Sorry 'bout that. You need help finding anything? The office probably has your schedule and everything. If you want I can take you there." Bella smiled but shook her head.

"Thanks, but I think I've got it. See you later." Eric looked slightly disappointed but Bella left quickly, not eager for any more puppy love.

Bella entered the building with the office and approached the desk and cleared her throat. The woman at the desk looked up reluctantly, and Bella noticed through the reflection off her glasses that the woman was watching a Spanish soap opera, Bella grimaced.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked, but from her tone it looked like the last thing she wanted to do was be helpful. Bella nodded and blushed.

"Yeah, I just transferred here and I was wondering if I could have my schedule." She fidgeted slightly in front of the counter, playing with the straps on her backpack.

"Name?" The woman asked in a bored tone, switching windows on her computer to pull out the student register.

"Bella. Bella Swan." The woman looked up briefly and quirked an eyebrow before turning back to the computer. She printed out a schedule and handed them along with another piece of paper to Bella.

"Have this paper signed by all of your teachers today and bring it back when you're done." She said in a bored voice. "Welcome to Forks High School."

Bella thanked the woman in a quiet voice and left the office, blasted with cool air before she moved to the main building. The bell rung just as she reached the lockers and she walked quickly toward her first class.

She walked into her first class, English, and blushed when she realized that everyone else was already seated. She approached the teacher, a tall balding man with large ears and glasses and handed him the slip. He glanced at it and nodded.

"Nice to meet you Isabella, I am Mr. Mason and welcome to English 11." Bella nodded and blushed, trying not to look out into the crowd of faces staring at her.

"You can sit over there, and here is the book we are currently reading. Why don't you come up after class and I can give you the course expectations and the book list. Have you read Macbeth and the Great Gatsby before?" He asked. Bella nodded and Mr. Mason smiled.

"Good, well then you will be all caught up. We just finished _Macbeth_ and we are a few chapters into the _Great Gatsby_. Our next test will be a combined review of both. If you need any extra help preparing for the test let me know." With that he gestured toward her seat and gave her a copy of the _Great Gatsby_. Bella blushed all the way as she went toward her seat and only gave a sigh of relief once she was in her seat behind everyone.

The class began with a recap of the previous chapter. Bella turned to the chapter in question and got out a notebook. The classroom was silent except for the teachers voice as he read passages from the text and jotted things down on the board.

"And now I want everyone to get into groups and come up with the metaphors images in this chapter. I also want everyone to continue his or her character analysis with this new chapter." Mr. Mason said, before sitting as his desk as controlled chaos broke out throughout the room.

Bella sat awkwardly for a few minutes before the girl sitting a few seats ahead of her approached her.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you Isabella. I was wondering if you wanted to work together? I'm Angela by the way, Angela Weber." The girl speaking was tall, a few inches taller than Bella, and was slim with medium length dark hair. She had a kind smile and a quiet voice, and Bella could see the sincerity in her eyes.

"Nice to meet you Angela, you can call me Bella." Angela grinned and took the seat directly in front of Bella and turned around.

"So you've read this book before?" Angela asked she placed her book covered in sticky notes and highlighted passages on Bella's desk.

"Yeah, I read a lot, I read the _Great Gatsby_ over the summer." Angela nodded, and noticed a boy walking towards Bella.

"I must admit I read ahead a little, I just started reading it and fell in love with it and couldn't put it down. Hey Mike? Looking for a group?" A blonde haired, baby-faced boy swaggers up. He flashes a bright grin towards the two girls, but when he turns to speak to Angela, his eyes are still focused on Bella.

"Yeah, I kinda didn't read the chapter so I was hoping you could help me." Angela rolled her eyes and sighed, but Bella noticed her eyes flitted from Bella to Mike. Clearly, Angela was the observant type. Mike sat down next to Bella, and scooted the desk closer until Bella could practically feel his breath on her neck.

"Hi, it's Isabella right? That's a really pretty name, Italian right? I'm Mike by the way, Mike Newton." Mike stuck out a hand and Bella went to shake it. His grip was firm, but it was slightly sweaty, and Bella retracted her hand a little too fast, causing Mike to frown slightly.

"All right everyone, I assume everyone is in a group right? I don't see a lot of discussion about the book, so why don't we all keep the volume down and actually talk about the book." Mr. Mason tried a smile, but it came off as more of a grimace. He sat back down at his desk to grade some papers, leaving the students to continue their chatter at a slightly lower volume.

Angela and Bella continued talking, first about their mutual love for books, and onward to their other favorite things. Mike seemed to stare at Bella the entire time, inserting himself in their conversation by cracking lame jokes and spitting out random trivia.

"So Bella, what made you want to come to Forks all of a sudden? Big change from living in Phoenix I bet." Mike said, grinning and giving a knowing wink. Angela rolled her eyes at Mike's actions, but looked at Bella to answer the question.

"Oh well, I've lived with my mom for a while and she wanted to move, and I would have gone with her, but I decided to come stay with Charlie instead." Bella said lamely. Mike looked confused, but Angela seemed to understand that Bella didn't want to discuss it, so she changed the subject.

"How do you like the weather here? You've lived in Arizona and California all your life right? Have you ever seen snow?" Mike's mouth opened slightly and he mouthed the words 'never seen snow?' but Bella didn't feel like bringing up to him that on average 80 degrees was a cold as it was going to get in Phoenix.

"I've seen snow a few times during winter break when my mom and I went to Northern California to visit relatives. But the closest thing to snow in Phoenix is frost, which we get rarely. Because of global warming though there is a lot more snow on the mountain ranges around us, just not in Phoenix." Bella said and Angela nodded and cut off Mike before he could say something.

"Yeah it snows sometimes during the winter here, not enough to get excited about. Usually it just gets cold and icy." Bella grimaced.

"Great. Ice and I don't get along." Angela cocked her head while Mike still seemed to be trying to think of something to say to get a word in.

"I'm a bit of a klutz. Okay, I'm a big klutz, I can trip over absolutely nothing." Angela nodded sympathetically, but it looked like she was trying hard not to laugh. Bella blushed but narrowed her eyes playfully at Angela and stuck out her tongue.

"Mature." Angela said before bursting into a fit of giggles, Bella joining in with her.

"Girls, I hope you are discussing the _Great Gatsby_." Came Mr.. Mason's voice, loud enough to draw the entire class's attention to the pair. Bella blushed and Angela quickly stopped laughing. Both murmured their apologies before turning to each other and grinning. Bella knew that Angela would be a good friend.

After sitting through several more classes, Bella thought she had had enough of school. And it was only the first day. She had been lectured on the BNG (Board of Geographic Names), which was probably the most uninteresting government agency Bella had ever heard of, and she had to sit through a pop quiz in Spanish, which she was exempt from so she sat through the class doodling, and finally her mind had been put through a blender during Trigonometry which she was sure was invented purely to make students miserable. By lunch, Bella was tired of smiling and repeating the answers to the same questions everyone asked her. She stood in line for the questionable food, wondering why on earth she had chosen to come to Forks in the first place. But she knew why. Her mother had called her shortly before Bella had gone to bed, missing her daughter but telling Bella of her plans to travel with Phil. Her mother had sounded so happy on the phone, so despite Bella's so far unfulfilling first day, Bella continued bravely forward in the lunch line, rejecting the mystery meat offered by the lunch ladies.

When Bella got her lunch she looked around the mostly filled cafeteria for a place to sit. Looking to a table in the center of the room, she saw Angela, who noticed her and waved. Bella smiled and hesitantly waved back before walking towards Angela. She noticed Mike and Eric were also at that table, and three other girls and a boy she was unfamiliar with.

Bella sat next to Angela just as Mike was finishing a funny story. The rest of the table chuckled, except for one of the girls, who threw her arms around Mike.

"Oh Mike! You are sooo funny!" She said, her voice was high and nasally, and glanced at Bella and glared. Bella blushed and Angela, whose eyes had turned from Bella to the other girls, frowned slightly. Thankfully Eric decided to introduce Bella to the table.

"Guys this is Bella, the chief policeman's daughter? Bella, this is Mike and Angela, who you know, and this is Katie, Lauren, Jessica, and Ben." Everyone waved to each other and Bella blushed and mumbled a greeting before turning to her food. In a few minutes, Bella had already made observations about the table. Ben and Eric sat next to each other chatting, and Bella noticed that Ben seemed much more interested in looking at Angela than talking to Eric. When Bella glanced between the two, Angela caught her glance and blushed faintly, so Bella surmised that the two had mutual crushes.

From the moment Lauren Mallory began to speak, Bella had a sense that Lauren didn't like her. Lauren's attention was focused solely on Mike, and anything that came out of Mike's mouth seemed to be absolute fact according to Lauren. She clung to him, and her friend Jessica seemed to follow along just as eagerly. Mike, and although his eyes wandered to Bella's every now and then, they also scanned almost every other girl as they walked by, Bella noticed. After several minutes of chatter, in which Bella answered some of the same questions she had answered all day, the cafeteria door was flung open. Bella's head turned along with most everyone else's, but her jaw dropped. In walked the five most beautiful people Bella had ever seen. She stared at them as they walked towards one of the far tables near the corner of the cafeteria near the back doors. Bella didn't stop staring until she heard a laugh behind her. She turned quickly and blushed; embarrassed that she had been caught staring. Katie, the redhead sitting next to Eric continued laughing, and jabbed Mike in the ribs with her elbow.

"Looks like Bella's discovered the Cullens, doubt you'll get a chance now huh Mikey." Mike scowled and focused on his food, but Bella thought she saw his ears turn pink.

"The Cullens?" Bella asked, remembering the beautiful woman from the grocery store. Her children were as beautiful as she was, Bella couldn't help but be a little envious. Angela tapped Bella on the hand and pointed out the Cullens, her voice gentle and thoughtful.

"The one getting the food is Emmett; he's going out with the blonde one, Rosalie." Bella's eyes turned towards the biggest Cullen, a massive muscled boy who stood taller than most of the other students. He wore jeans and a muscle t-shirt, and his obvious muscles bulged from his shirt which would otherwise make him look intimidating. But he had on a playful scowl on as he lumbered over to get food, and Bella guessed he had just lost a bet. The girl Angela had indicated, his girlfriend, was sitting in one of the plastic chairs with a scowl on her face. A permanent scowl. She was beautiful, tall and slender with long blonde hair and perfect features. She was dressed in designer clothes and seemed so elegant she practically screamed runway model in Europe. Despite her beauty, her scowl and aggressive body language made Bella shiver at the thought of ever crossing her.

"The ones standing are Edward and Jasper. Jasper is going out with Alice I think, but I'm not sure, and Edward is single." Edward was tall with messy hair and a brooding face, but at the moment he had a crooked grin on as he watched Emmett try to navigate among the other students, a massive giant among the other students. Jasper had wild leonine hair was a ruggedly handsome face, which at the moment bore a pained expression, and he seemed to be lightly holding the second girls arm under the table for support.

When Bella looked at the final Cullen at the table, her breath was taken away. Short and petite, dressed in slim designer clothes and monstrously tall heels, Alice Cullen was probably the most beautiful girl Bella had ever laid eyes on. Bella blushed and her heart began to beat rapidly, but she continued to stare over at the Cullen table, not wanting to tear her eyes away from the smallest Cullen. Spiky short locks of hair that Bella longed to run her hands through, and the tantalizing curves of Alice's body made Bella shiver slightly. The girl in question was sitting with her hands lightly over Jasper's, as though trying to alleviate his pain. She was giggling loudly as she watched Emmett approach their table with his arms full of food, and she let out a bell laugh that Bella could barely hear over the noise of the other students. As if Alice noticed Bella staring at her, she turned towards her and their eyes met. Alice stopped smiling for a moment, her golden eyes seemed to shimmer slightly and sparkle, and then she grinned again and turned back to her siblings. Bella blushed furiously and turned her body around, away from the Cullen's'. Angela was the only one had seen the interaction, but she said nothing, only looked thoughtful.

"It's gross though. They're all related and yet they all date each other. Well except for Edward, but he's a snob just like the rest of them. They don't even bother talking to anyone outside their families, snobs." Lauren sneered. Bella couldn't help noticing that it seemed like the Cullen's had heard Lauren, fists were clenched and Rosalie looked ready to walk over and smack Lauren. Angela reprimanded Lauren and Mike even through in a good word for them, effectively causing Lauren to shut up and reattach her arm to Mikes.

"Hey, the Cullen's are staring at you." Jessica leaned over and whispered, although when Bella turned and glanced behind her, the Cullen's all looked back at her unabashed, as though they had heard Jessica. Each of them wore different expressions, except for Emmett who seemed not to be paying any attention to what his siblings were looking at.

Edward, the bronze haired boy, had a brooding look, staring intently at Bella and then letting his eyes flicker to others around the room. Jasper had a similarly pained expression, but when he caught Bella's glance he tried a grin that looked more like a grimace. Bella's eyes flitted over to Rosalie, and instantly wish she hadn't. The blonde held a downright murderous gaze, and it was directed directly at Bella. And finally Alice. Bella looked over to Alice, and once again her heart rate picked up and she blushed. Across the room she noticed Alice shift a little, her eyes staring straight at Bella, an unreadable expression on her face. When the bell rang, Bella barely noticed, but the Cullen's all stood up in one movement. Alice and Jasper were out of the cafeteria first, Alice leading with Jasper trailing behind, their arms intertwined. Alice shot a sidelong glance back at Bella before leaving, and Bella blushed and ducked her head. Rosalie and Emmett left, holding hands with Rosalie grumbling about something and Emmett was chuckling about something. Only Edward remained. He was still standing at the table, pushing in the plastic chairs but his eyes remained on Bella's. Bella shifted uncomfortably when she noticed his stare, and she excused herself with Angela and the rest of her table.

"What do you have next Bella?" Angela asked politely, as she and Bella weaved their way through the small crowd of students leaving the cafeteria.

"Biology." Bella said quietly, still thinking about the Cullen's, Alice in particular. Angela nodded and turned Bella around by the shoulders.

"This way, I have that class too, along with Mike. You want to go together?" She asked, pulling Bella by the arm as Bella's mind seemed to go elsewhere.

"Yeah, sure." Bella said with a shrug, Mike tagging alongside on Bella's other shoulder like a happy dog. When they arrived at Biology they were early, but the class already had assigned seating so Bella sat at the only available desk next to the window. Mr. Banner was a nice man, if anything enthusiastic about his love for science. When most of the class had arrived the room began to quiet down. The door opened just as the bell rang and the final student arrived. Bella looked to the door along with the rest of the class and her stomach turned suddenly when she realized who it was. Edward Cullen.

**End of Chapter 3. Once again record time because I have been bringing it to work, but we'll see. I plan to make Edward a nice guy, but a little frustrated due to Bella blocking his ability. I also am planning an extra filler chapter later on about other were-characters, not just bears. Sula won't appear again for a while, and I haven't decided yet whether to make Bella a were-creature or just stick with vampire…. Anyway…..**


	4. Four

**So I have four done and five mostly done, but I find my writing style at work is really different and I don't like it, so I am going to try to edit five and finish it at home. More descriptions about the characters, just basic stuff. After everyone becomes friends I'm going to jump to thanksgiving and then quickly to winter... and we will see... I don't own anything SM does...  
**

Four

Bella shifted uncomfortably as Edward Cullen made his way towards her. Up close, she noticed the dark purple-ish circles under his eyes; it looked like he hadn't slept in a while. His hair was tousled and Bella guessed that he ran his fingers through his hair a lot. Edward walked stiffly but with confidence, but as he continued towards her he looked confused. His eyes were a dark gold, and they seemed to darken as he came towards her. He sat next to her and in one fluid movement swung his messenger bag off his shoulder and under his seat. He pulled out his biology book and his notebook, and without even looking at Bella he flipped to the correct page and opened his notebook. As soon as Edward sat down Bella was wrapped in a unique scent. A sweet smell that reminded Bella of cinnamon infused with a scent Bella couldn't place. Some kind of wildflower. Bella wasn't sure whether it was cologne, or the boy's natural scent, but she subtly took in a deep breath. Edward was sitting stiffly, and she thought she heard him take in a deep breath and then shift his whole body away from hers. He put his left elbow on the table and subtly put his hand around his nose and mouth. Bella blushed as she realized he was acting as though she smelled bad. Edward stiffened even further and turned his head and body away from Bella, dark eyes fixed on the teacher.

_So much for being friendly_, Bella thought. As if Edward heard her thoughts he looked up. He took a deep breath into his hand and then turned back towards Bella. His body was still stiff but he dropped his hand and tried a friendly face. He seemed to be making quite an effort but Bella almost felt herself getting angry. _You don't have to pretend to be nice to me if you don't want to_, she thought. Edward seemed to read his face because he turned his body more towards her, a passive expression on his face.

"Hi, sorry if I didn't introduce myself. I'm Edward Cullen." Bella nodded, noticing that Edward didn't offer his hand.

"Hi, I'm Bella." She said shyly, blushing. Edward stiffened slightly but gave a crooked grin.

"You met my mom." It wasn't a question, it was a statement and Bella wasn't sure how to respond.

"Uhh yea, she seems nice. Do you get along well with your family?" She asked, blushing still. Edward seemed to brighten slightly and he nodded.

"Yeah, although we sometimes can get on each other's nerves everyone gets along decent enough." _Decent enough?_ Bella thought. _Odd wording._ Edward cocked his head slightly, his eyes flitting from Bella's eyes to her the rest of her face, as though reading her. He had a slight frown on, and his brow furrowed, making Bella shift nervously.

"Uhh, is everything ok?" Bella asked, letting her hair fall as a curtain between her and Edward's gaze.

"Yes. You're just harder to read than the rest." Edward stated, staring at Bella intently.

"The rest?" Bella asked, but Edward had turned away from her looking at the board and Mr. Varner. Bella glanced sideways at Edward once more before turning her attention back to the lesson. The rest of the class was uncomfortably silent, Bella shifting in her seat and Edward staring ahead like a statue.

When the bell rang and the class began to fill with chatter Bella glanced at Edward again. He stood up in one fluid movement again and collected his things. She thought he was going to ignore her again but he turned.

"Have a good day Bella." He said, flashing another brilliant white grin, and then resumed his brooding expression as he left. Bella remained standing. She had glanced at Edward's notebook before he had packed up, it was completely blank.

Bella checked her schedule outside her locker and gave a groan. Gym. She shoved her bag into her locker and prepared for last period hell. She walked toward the gym slowly, dreading the inevitable. Her classmates would soon discover that Bella caused more harm to herself and her own team than she did to others, and Bella dragged her feet as she walked towards the girl's locker room. She opened the door reluctantly, only to have someone collide with her, or rather, someone collide with her stomach. Bella stepped back to apologize when she realized who it was. The first thing that hit her was an overwhelmingly intoxicating scent. It was a sweet smell, and if Bella could describe it she would call it spring itself. Floral with a strong hint of lilac and honeysuckle, Bella quietly took a deep breath to inhale the scent. She heard a giggle. Bella looked down quickly, her face flushing a bright red. The owner of the giggle giggled harder, and looked back at Bella with sparkling honey colored eyes.

"Hi, sorry about that! I wasn't watching where I was going. You're Bella right? I'm Alice Cullen, it's nice to meet you." Alice said. She had a bell-like voice, sweet and light but perfectly clear. Bella was at a loss for words. She thought she said something along the lines of "Uhhh," which made Alice giggle again, but Bella could barely hear herself, she could only stare at Alice. When Alice giggled, her face light up and two cute dimples appeared at the corners of her mouth, Bella wanted to kiss them. _Woah, wait what!_ Bella thought and instantly snapped back into reality. She took a big step back, and Alice's scent was slightly dull, replaced with the smell of a girl's locker room. Bella almost pulled a face, but remembered that Alice was still watching her waiting for a response.

"Sorry, uh, for bumping into you. I wasn't watching where I was going." Bella said, blushing furiously and fumbling with the hem of her jacket as Alice watched her. Alice smiled brightly.

"Oh, it's ok. I wasn't looking where I was going either, so I'm glad I didn't hit you with the door." Bella nodded dumbly, still staring at the smallest Cullen. If Alice noticed, she didn't say anything, but her eyes seemed to shimmer slightly.

"Are you in this class? If you want I can take you to the coach, I doubt he will make you participate today, you didn't bring any clothes right?" Bella nodded again, her mouth open a little and her eyes raking over Alice's figure. Alice giggled again when she noticed Bella was still unresponsive, and grabbed Bella by the sleeve and practically dragged her out of the locker room to the gym. Bella had to stoop slightly as Alice pulled her along, but Bella didn't mind, she didn't even notice. She watched Alice's spiky locks bounce slightly as Alice walked, and then she noticed Alice was actually bouncing. She was practically skipping.

"Are you skipping?" Bella asked, and then immediately blushed because she didn't want to sound annoying. Alice looked back and laughed.

"Maybe. I like skipping. Do you want to skip with me?" She asked playfully and Bella blushed vigorously shook her head.

"Alice I can barely walk without falling, I highly doubt skipping is a good thing for me." Alice laughed and slowed, no longer holding onto Bella's arm.

"I would catch you if you fell." She said sincerely, but Bella snorted.

"Yeah, I would probably crush you, you're tiny." Alice wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue.

"Shut up! I'm stronger than I look. And you wouldn't crush me." She said, and turned ahead again, skipping.

Coach Clapp allowed Bella to sit out of gym class, so Bella sat on the bleachers while the rest of the class filed in to play dodge ball. One of the cruelest sports, Bella thought, allowing bullies to cream the nerds in a contained environment under teacher supervision. Her eyes drifted over to Alice, dressed like the rest of the class in gym attire. When Alice noticed Bella staring, Alice waved, and Bella blushed furiously and waved back, embarrassed that she had been caught staring.

Alice was quite agile, dodging most of the balls that came her way, and even throwing a few and knocking some other players out. By the end of the period Bella was stiff from sitting on the bleachers, but she had enjoyed watching her class, particularly Alice. When the bell rang, Bella navigated her way through the bustle of students toward her locker and then to the office. She didn't have as much work as she thought he would have, but her backpack was significantly heavier than it had been that morning. When she got into the office to return the slip she noticed that there were other people there. Edward and Alice. They stood at the counter and were arguing quietly with each other while the woman behind the desk merely stared at Edward. When Bella approached, all three looked up. Alice gave a bright smile while Edward gave a polite nod. Bella nodded back, and then stood back slightly to wait for her turn.

"As I was saying," Edward said quietly, shooting a sideways glance at Bella before continuing. "I called my father during lunch and he said it was fine. Alice has already talked to Mr. Mason so I don't see what the problem is." The receptionist looked slightly flustered, but Bella noticed that the smile Edward wore looked very fake.

"Well unfortunately the issue isn't your schedules, it's the class sizes. Both of the classes you two want to switch are already full, we can't just add more students in than desks." Edward scowled but Alice jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, Bella stifled a laugh.

"Please, is there anything you can do? I've already taken Spanish 3 and I was wondering if there was any way if I could switch out of it into English and pick up Home Economics." Alice said her eyes fluttering slightly and making a puppy-dog face. Bella covered her mouth as she watched Alice's antics, but she had to admit it looked very persuasive. Edward immediately added on, casting a glare at Alice.

"And I've already taken Biology, can't I make that a free period?" Bella arched an eyebrow. Was Edward trying to switch out of Biology because of her? No, it couldn't be. He had looked bored in class; he hadn't even bothered to take notes, so maybe he wasn't just making excuses. Edward noticed Bella's quizzical look and he quickly stopped the receptionist from speaking.

"On second thought, I think I go home and discuss things further with my parents, we can make a formal decision later. Have a good day." He said smoothly, and the receptionist nodded faintly. Edward practically dragged Alice out of the door, but not before Alice turned to smile and wave at Bella.

Suddenly alone in the office with the receptionist Bella approached the desk.

"Can I help you?" The receptionist still didn't' sound friendly but Bella ignored it.

"Yeah I'm here to return this slip." The receptionist took it and Bella turned and left, noticing out of the corner of her eye that the receptionist was shopping for shoes.

Walking towards her truck Bella noticed the red BMW was gone, but a sliver Volvo flanked Bella's other side. The windows were tinted so Bella couldn't see if anyone was inside, and she approached her truck carefully. She turned her back on the Volvo and opened her truck, putting her backpack in the passenger seat before climbing in.

"Hi Bella!" A cheery bell-like voice chirped. Bella jumped almost a foot in the air and her thighs hit her steering wheel. She looked out of her driver's side window to see Alice standing next to her truck, giggling softly. She was so short that she could have rested her chin on the window frame of Bella's side door while standing. Bella couldn't help but smile.

"Hi Alice."

"Soooo how was your first day of school?" Alice asked excitedly. Bella blushed and shrugged.

"It's tough being the new kid." Alice nodded in agreement.

"You will probably be the talk of Forks for a month. When my family moved here it took a while for people to get used to us." Bella nodded glumly but Alice giggled and poked Bella's arm with her finger.

"Hey, you should sit with me at lunch tomorrow. Because we only had gym together we didn't get to talk." Bella smiled and nodded, but instantly grew somber at the thought of sitting Alice's sister Rosalie who didn't seem to like Bella. As if reading her mind Alice poked her again.

"If you want we can sit together, just you and me. My family can be a bit annoying sometimes." Alice said quietly, before rolling her eyes at the mention of her family.

"Actually, Emmett is just downright embarrassing, so maybe it's better that we sit alone." Bella laughed with Alice for a while before things became awkwardly silent. Alice seemed to sense Bella's discomfort, so she stepped back from the truck.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She said cheerfully, and Bella nodded and blushed, before starting up her truck. Her truck gave such a roar that Alice laughed, causing Bella to blush harder as she pulled out of the parking lot.

She watched Alice get into the silver Volvo from her rearview mirror as Bella drove away, and her eyes flitted to the rearview mirror again when the Volvo left the parking lot and turned in a different direction.

Bella sighed and gripped her steering wheel. She was glad for a moment that her truck couldn't go very fast, because her mind was elsewhere as she drove home, and the slow speed allowed her more time to think.

She thought about her school, Forks in general, and the other students. And the Cullen's. She pulled into the empty driveway and sat in her truck, cutting the engine. Different emotions swirled through her, the Cullen's, Edward, and Alice. Bella tried to shake off the thoughts as she stepped out of the truck and walked to the house. It was raining lightly.

Bella made dinner quietly, doing her homework at the dining room table as she watched over the stew. It began raining harder, and Bella moved to turn on the porch light for when Charlie got home. She finished her homework and sat down on the couch to read _Antigone_, a book she had yet to read that was on the summer reading list for next year. She was halfway through with the book when she heard Charlie's cruiser pull into the driveway. She glanced at her watch; it was a little past nine.

Charlie walked in, soaking wet and tired, slamming the front door and kicking his boots off.

"Hey Bells." He said tiredly. He removed his jacket and gun belt, moved towards the kitchen.

"Stew smells good Bells, how long has it been on?"

"Since four. It's done cooking but I've been keeping it warm. You want a bowl?" Bella made to move but Charlie waved her away.

"Sit Bells, relax. Thanks for making me dinner Bells. How was your first day of school?" Bella shrugged, but realizing that she realized that Charlie wasn't looking.

"It wasn't too bad. I wish I didn't have to be the new kid, I hate being the new kid." Charlie appeared with a bowl and a piece of bread, and nodded sympathetically.

"Yeah, but don't let it bother you. You make any friends?" Bella's thoughts immediately went to Alice Cullen, and she shifted slightly and blushed.

"I guess, Angela Weber is really nice. And the Cullen's aren't bad either." Charlie nodded.

"Their father, Carlisle is a good man. A good doctor too. He is incredibly gifted and could be working at some of the best hospitals, and yet he chooses to work here. A good man, good kids too, polite." Charlie grunted, Bella almost smiled. Charlie didn't usually compliment people. She sighed as she got up and turned the stew off.

"When your done just stick the pot in the fridge ok? I'm going upstairs." Charlie nodded and turned towards the television, and as Bella turned up the stairs she heard Charlie yelling something to one of the teams over the sound of the announcers.

Bella sat on her bed with her ipod on. It was a little after nine and yet she felt utterly exhausted. She let her mind wander as she thought of school and Alice Cullen.

What did she feel for Alice Cullen? She barely knew the girl and yet every time they made eye contact Bella's heart skipped a beat and she felt safe. She had only met the girl that morning, and yet Bella couldn't wait to see her again, talk to her, hear her voice. The sound of a branch scraping against her window broke her out of her thoughts. Bella sat up and looked out. The tree outside her window was swaying, and she could hear the wind picking up. Standing up and wrapping her blanket around her, Bella moved to the window. Outside was pure darkness; the only thing illuminated was a distant pinprick of light from a neighbor's house somewhere beyond the trees. She stared down at the grass, soaked with rain, the light from the house illuminating a few yards into the yard before the dark swallowed it. Just at the fringe of the yard, Bella thought she saw a flash of something light, something that stood out against the dark. But when she blinked, it was gone, and Bella pushed the image from her thought. The last thing she wanted to think about was the prospect of something outside in the dark lurking.

Outside, the forest was quiet. Two blurs moved through the trees, barely making a sound. The first was much shorter, gracefully leaping like a deer. The second was a tall and lithe figure, running with such effortless speed that it seemed to mock the wind. The figures halted abruptly in a clearing, and the blurs settled into solid shapes.

A loud smack echoed through the forest, and those creatures that weren't already hiding from the rain ran to hide.

"I can't believe you." Alice hissed eyes almost black and appearing as two small pinpricks of light. Edward gave a low hiss, his eyes were completely black and his lips curled back to reveal startlingly white teeth in the dark.

"What, as if you weren't thinking of doing the same thing. I'm looking out for you Alice." Edward snarled, his body tense and in an aggressive stance. Alice spat at him, curling her perfect hands into tiny fists.

"I can see the future dickhead; I don't need you to look out for me. And just because you can't read her mind doesn't mean you can stalk her." Edward snorted.

"And just because you think she's your mate doesn't mean you can stalk her either." Alice gave a low growl and began to creep forward. Before either vampire could engage three other shapes suddenly appeared. A wave of calm hit Edward and Alice like a shockwave, and both tried to fight it off. Jasper appeared, looking tired, his usually wild hair plastered against his head from the rain. On his left was Emmett, who looked unusually serious, but as Alice glared at him he gave a smile. On the right Rosalie stood, arms crossed with a scowl on her face.

"Please stop this, both of you." Jasper began, stepping forward towards Edward and Alice. Edward rolled his eyes and straightened up, his body resigned, but his fists still clenched. Alice gave an angry hiss but relaxed as well, and Rosalie spoke.

"Great, now that both of you aren't trying to kill each other can we please get out of the rain?" When no one responded she gave a scowl and blurred away towards the house.

Emmett had been silent, a calm look on his face, but now he spoke, eyes playfully glittering.

"So, were you watching her change?" His face broke out in a goofy grin as Alice gave an irritated hiss at him and Edward just scowled. Jasper rolled his eyes.

"Not now Emmett. Why don't we all go home? Esme is really worried." Grudgingly Edward turned and walked with Emmett towards the Cullen property, at a human pace. A look crossed his face as he read Emmett's mind and he scowled again, and sped off towards the house.

"So did you?" Emmett called after him, racing off after his brother. Jasper and Alice were the only ones left.

Alice was looking at the ground; the rain had soaked her clothes and flattened her spiky hair. A myriad of emotions flew over her face, and Jasper winced as he experience every one of them.

"Jasper." Alice began in a small voice, but Jasper shook his head.

"It's all right. I've known since you had your vision, it's all right. Really Alice." Alice finally met his eyes; they were warm and friendly but a little sad. Jasper shook his head.

"Really Alice. It will be ok. I promise." Alice nodded weakly and quickly hugged Jasper. The two vampires' bodies were cold, but against each other the temperature was mild, the closest thing they could come to warmth. Alice pulled back and glanced back in the direction they had come. Jasper gently pulled her arm.

"Let's go Alice. She will still be there in the morning. Else and Carlisle are going to be worried." The two blurred toward the Cullen house, leaving the empty clearing. Had anyone been in the forest that night, there would have been no sign that anyone had been there. But in that clearing, a silent decision had been made, ending one relationship, and beginning a new one.

Unbeknown to it all, Bella Swan lay in bed asleep, submerged in peaceful oblivion.

**Wow sorry for the corny ending, but when I'm at work my writing is a lot different than when I am at home, no idea why….. Anyway…. We will see how things go but I'm not sure I like the way I am writing so things might change in the next few chapter, dunno, but I feel like I've left things out…. **


	5. Five

**I do not own Twilight. Also next chapter I might do the Cullens pov, but it's going to be long since it has to go back to explaining when Alice started having visions of Bella. At work atm, bad procrastination... but in my defense I just submitted designs for a billboard so my work is done...**

Five

Bella woke, stretching lazily in bed before getting up. She put on a similar outfit to the one yesterday and walked downstairs. Charlie was awake, and by the smell of the burnt toast he had tried to make breakfast. When Bella reached the kitchen Charlie had placed a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice. She glanced at him as he stood by the garbage can. He smiled at her and then guiltily looked down at the garbage, where too pieces of charcoal toast now sat.

"How did you sleep Bells?" He asked, reaching for his coffee pot. Bella had no doubt that the microwave and coffeemaker were probably the only machines in the kitchen Charlie could use.

"Okay. I don't remember my dreams, but I feel well rested." Charlie nodded, and feeling as though his duty in making conversation were done, turned to leave the kitchen.

"Oh Bella? I'm going out with Billy fishing down on the reservation, so hopefully we will be having fish tonight." Bella nodded and mentally began thinking of dishes that could be made without fish, in case.  
Bella left for school early, grabbing her faithful rain jacket and heading towards her truck. Almost by instinct she stared over at the spot where she had seen the moving blur last night, but there was nothing there, not even an imprint in the grass.

When Bella arrived to school she was immediately accosted by Mike, who greeted her cheerfully and then struck up a conversation about the sports store that he worked at. He had one arm against Bella's truck and he leaned in towards her at a gravity-defying angle. He tried to look nonchalant about it, but Bella winced whenever he laughed and she felt his hot breath on him. Mike used some strong cologne, but there was a stronger smell overlapping the cologne, wet dog. Bella wondered if Mike had a dog, or whether all teenage boys seemed to smell similar to wet dog.  
As if thinking of the Cullen's and their unique scents, Bella watched as the red BMW she had seen before pulled up a few spots away from Bella. Emmett and Rosalie Cullen stepped out and began walking towards the school. Emmett was wearing a t-shirt again, this time with a hoodie, and Rosalie was wearing an outfit Bella was sure was all-designer. They walked hand in hand, Emmett laughing and Rosalie scowling, but stopped to watch the silver Volvo pull up to school. Bella's eyes turned to the Volvo as well, and she looked expectantly at the passenger seat for the smallest Cullen.  
Edward stepped out of the drivers seat, fingers running through his hair and a smirk on his face. Jasper stepped out of the front passenger seat, a calm expression as he turned to the door behind him and opened it. Alice stepped out, and Bella's heart skipped a beat.

She was dressed in black skinny jeans with a flowing blouse and high heels. She smiled in thanks to Jasper and then glanced at Bella. When their eye's made contact Bella blushed and shifted uncomfortably, but Mike brought her out of her reverie.

"Bella, you listening?" Mike asked, his voice loud in Bella's ears. Bella jerked slightly and focused back on Mike and gave a

small smile. Mike turned around to see the Cullen's and scowled.  
"I can't stand them. They think they're so much better than everyone else." He said darkly, but turned back to Bella with a goofy grin. "Anyway, what do you say about next week?" Bella looked at him blankly, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Edward and Emmett scowling, as though they had heard Mike.

"Uhhh what? Sorry I spaced out. Where are you going next week?" Mike rolled his eyes dramatically but laughed.

"No, I asked if you wanted to go to the movies with me next week. Angela, Ben and Eric are coming too. Katie and Jessica can't but Lauren says she might." Mike said eagerly. Bella grimaced at the thought of Lauren going, but she didn't want to seem rude.

"Sorry Mike I don't know I just-" But before she could finish she was cut off by another voice.

"Sorry Mike, Bella would really like to come but she had agreed to go shopping with me that day. She would love to go another time though, right Bella?" Bella found herself agreeing to the bell-like voice before she even saw her. She glanced and saw Alice at her left shoulder, her petite hand wrapped around Bella's arm. Mike frowned and removed his hand from Bella's truck, releasing Bella from being trapped between his arms and her truck door.

"Oh, ok. I guess another time Bella." Mike said, frowning a little deeper as he looked at Alice.  
Bella shifted slightly towards Alice, and in response Alice reached with her other hand to wrap her arms around Bella's forearm. Bella looked over and involuntarily grinned at Alice, it was so easy. Alice grinned back and giggled before turning to Mike.

"We should go, the bell is ringing." She said, and seconds later the bell rung. Alice pulled Bella gently away and Bella followed willingly. She nearly tripped on the curb, but Alice, true to her word, caught Bella in a surprisingly strong grip. When they reached the school doors Alice stopped.  
"Sorry Bella if you actually wanted to go, you looked uncomfortable so I thought I'd rescue you. If you want to go I can go back and apologize to Mike." She said sincerely, but there was a glimmer of mirth in her eyes. Bella vehemently shook her head.

"Sorry, I don't want to go to the movies with Mike and Lauren. Thanks for the rescue." Bella said and Alice winked, causing Bella to blush.

"But I wasn't lying, we do have to get to class." Alice said, and grabbed Bella by the arm and pulled her through the doors and down the hall. Bella glanced at Alice's hand on her wrist and realized something.

"Holy crap Alice, your hand is freezing cold." Bella stopped Alice and Alice seemed to open her mouth and say something and pull away her hand but Bella stopped her. Bella took Alice's hand in her own and cradled it, trying to warm it. Bella blushed once she realized Alice was watching her, but Alice only had warmth in her eyes.

"It's ok, I have poor circulation so my hands are usually cold." Alice said, but her eyes glanced again at her hand still in Bella's. Slowly she untangled their hands, although she seemed reluctant to do so.

"I'll see you at lunch?" Bella said hopefully. She knew Alice had suddenly grown uncomfortable, and seemed to be trying to find words for something, but Alice brightened at Bella's mention of lunch.

"Definitely!" She said happily, bouncing up and down on her heels, her energy restored. Bella chuckled and watched Alice skip off towards her first class.

Bella spent the whole first period passing notes with Angela. The two had sat next to each other and they passed notes shamelessly talking about everything. Bella had asked about the Cullen's more, and Angela had asked about Bella's life back in Phoenix.

_So the Cullen's are all adopted right? But they all have the same eye color. – Bella_

_Well yeah, I think they're contacts. And Rosalie and Jasper are twins, they look similar right? – Angela_

_What is that called again? Fraternal twins? They look similar, but not that alike. – Bella_

_Yeah, fraternal. I heard you sat next to Edward in biology. Was he nice? –Angela_

_No not really, he was polite but I don't think he likes me. – Bella_

_Well the Cullen's are kind of private. But Carlisle is a really good doctor. – Angel_a

When the bell rung, Bella went to her next class and had to endure Mike chatting to her throughout their entire group activity. It wasn't that she didn't like Mike, but he seemed too eager and too forward for her liking. The fact that he assumed that Bella would simply fall into his arms annoyed her, so she spent her time gently making herself unavailable to his flirtations.

By the time lunch rolled around Bella was tired of Mike and some of the other boys. Tyler and Eric had made themselves known as being interested in her, and Bella wished she could just turn them down but they didn't seem to get her subtle hints.

"Bella!" Bella turned to look at one of the far corners of the cafeteria to see Alice waving to her. Alice sat at an empty table across the room from her siblings, who seemed to all be watching Bella as she entered. Bella blushed and waved back, and got her food quickly before making her way through the maze of tables to go sit with Alice.

"Hi Alice." Bella said shyly as she sat down. Alice giggled and immediately began bouncing in her seat once Bella sat.

"Ok so, why did you move to Forks, what's your favorite, color, what's your favorite book, what's your favorite movie and who's your favorite actor in the movie, and what's your favorite genre of music?" She said it all in one breath very fast, an Bella blinked at her open mouthed.

"Uh, you want me to answer all of those?" Bella asked and Alice rolled her eyes.

"Of course silly, I have dozens more, I made them up as I was sitting in class." Alice said and began bouncing in her seat again.

"Uhh ok… My favorite color is blue I guess, or brown, and I like Jane Austin a lot and Robert Frost. I don't really have a favorite movie but I like Johnny Depp. As for music I will listen to anything, except rap." Bella said, watching Alice drink in every word she said. Bella couldn't help laughing.

"Why don't you tell me about yourself, or do I have to ask questions too?" But Alice was already going, speaking at a remarkably bubbly speed.

"My favorite color is yellow, bright yellow, and my favorite book is the _Mrs. Dalloway _at the moment but it's subject to change. My favorite movie at the moment is _Tangled_, but last week it was _Amelie_, and my favorite actress is Emma Stone and my favorite actor of all time is Gene Kelly. I love international music, but you're right, rap is obnoxious."

Alice seemed to pause for a millisecond before she took off again and Bella couldn't help but watch raptly as Alice talked. Her eyes sparkled and her voice was bright and cheerful, but as she talked about herself a myriad of expressions flew across her face, making Bella laugh. When Alice talked about her family her face lit up as she mentioned each one.

"Esme and Carlisle are the nicest parents on the planet, and I am so lucky to have them. Esme is really nice and sweet and never angry, but when she is she's actually quite fierce. Carlisle is always polite and considerate, but sometimes his doctor side shows through when it comes to our health. Emmett is a big goofball but a really sweet and smart guy, despite his appearances." At this point Emmett seemed to frown across the room, and Alice looked over and stuck her tongue out at him. Bella had the strange feeling that the rest of the Cullen's could hear every word that Alice said, even though they were all the way across the room.

"Rosalie is, well a bitch, but she is really caring underneath and she really loves everyone. She is a little vain though, ok really vain, so sometimes if you're stuck behind her waiting for the bathroom it could be hours. Hair curlers were a horrible invention because Rosalie spends her whole time curling her hair with a hair iron in the bathroom, I think she spends more time looking in the mirror than she does looking at Emmett." Across the room Rosalie scowled and Emmett pretended to look hurt before he grinned and poked Rosalie in the ribs, which earned him a smack on the back of the head.

"Jasper is really nice and he's really supportive of people. He's probably the most polite out of all my siblings, they could take a leaf from his book." Emmett pulled another face and Jasper gave a small smirk, but once they noticed Bella watching their faces turned away and the returned to their own conversations.

"Edward is pretty nice too, he doesn't have much patience though. Well he as more patience than me, but that's not saying much. I'm not very patient." Bella rolled her eyes and gave Alice a 'no kidding' look to which Alice scowled.

"Hey I can be patient if I have too, I just don't like to." Bella chuckled and soon Alice joined in. Bella took a bite out of her food before she noticed that Alice hadn't touched her plate. Her plate was a simple salad and a bottle of water, but Alice hadn't touched either.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Bella asked. Alice looked down at her salad and made a face.

"I'm not really hungry, besides I want to hear more about you. You didn't answer my first question either, about why you moved to Forks?" Bella sighed, but resigned and began to tell. She had retold the same lie for the past two days, but she decided to tell Alice the truth.

"My mom got remarried to a baseball player, not a really famous one but he still travels, and she wanted to spend more time with him. I realized that the only reason she stayed in Phoenix instead of traveling with him was because I was going to school and she felt like she had to stay with me. So I offered to come live in Forks with Charlie, err, my dad. At first she said I didn't have to go, she didn't want me to go, but she sounds so happy when she calls. She and Phil are traveling now, and she loves it. I decided that there wasn't really anything holding me in Phoenix, so why not move to Forks." Alice nodded as she played with her food. Bella hadn't told anyone before her real reason for coming to Forks, she didn't want people's sympathy or anything.

"Do you like it here?" Alice asked quietly, but the way she asked it made Bella wonder if there was more to the question. Alice was watching her, her honey colored eyes swirling with emotion. Bella broke her gaze and shrugged at her food.

"I guess. I'm not too crazy about the weather because I don't really like rain. But it isn't that bad." Alice seemed to brighten slightly and smiled and then her face became serious again.

"Do you miss your friends back in Phoenix?" She asked, and this time she stared straight at Bella her eyes penetrating but her voice shaky. Bella shrugged. Alice opened her mouth again to ask another question, her eyes almost pained as she stared at Bella. It was as though she was dreading the answer but couldn't stop herself from asking the question.

"Did you have a boyfriend or something that you left back in Phoenix?" She said in almost a whisper. Bella had expected this question at some point, but not from Alice, and it still startled her.

"No, I don't have a boyfriend or someone else waiting back in Phoenix. I had some friends, but not really close ones." Alice looked almost relieved, but the bell rang just as she opened her mouth again to speak. She gave a huff but stood up when Bella stood up.

"Well I guess I will see you later Bella. Do you want to hang again some time?" Alice asked eagerly. Bella nodded, feeling a wide grin spread over her face.

"Sure." Bella noticed that the other Cullen's had got up to leave, but they were still looking at Alice and Bella.

Feeling awkward, Bella said goodbye to Alice and then left the cafeteria. As she walked down the hall an excited Angela outside of the Spanish room intercepted her.

"Soooo?" Angela said stretching out the 'so' as she watched Bella expectantly.

"So what?" Bella asked, but she knew what. Angela gave her a playful glare before grabbing Bella by the arm and dragging her into the classroom to their seats. Bella had a fleeting thought that Angela was so much warmer than Alice but somehow more comfortable, and she wished that Alice was with her.

"Bella? Come on, please tell me?" Angela whined, and Bella snapped back into focus. She blushed slightly and tried to face forward towards the teacher who just walked in the room, but Angela poked her cheek.

"Bella, I won't stop bugging you until you tell me. Were you guys just talking? What did she want?" Angela asked but Bella shrugged. Angela finally gave up once the teacher shot them a glare, but she glanced over at Bella with an 'I'll get you later' look.

Bella dreaded going to Biology, as it was clear to her that Edward didn't like her. As she walked in, she noticed that Edward was already sitting at the lab table. She gave a grimace and walked towards her seat, but surprisingly Edward smiled at her.

"Sorry Bella if we got off on the wrong foot yesterday." He said, quietly but not quiet enough for the few other students in the room to turn their heads. Not one but two of the elusive Cullen's was speaking to the new student?

"Oh, err, it's ok." Bella said and blushed. Edward continued to smile politely and stood up to let Bella past him to her seat next to the window. As she brushed past him, he stiffened, and his eyes darkened, but when he looked at Bella again his eyes were lighter as he smiled.

Mr. Warner walked in and placed a stack of printouts on his desk.

"All right everyone, we are going to do a lab on identifying different cells. Some are mammalian cells and some are plant cells, so you may use your notes but no books. Okay? By the end of the class you and your lab partner will turn in your answers to me including diagrams. Make sure you take turns with the microscopes and don't smudge the slides." He glanced around to make sure everyone was paying attention before he handed the packets out. Edward smoothly took the packet from Mr. Varner and flipped through it.

"These are pretty easy, it won't take that long." Bella felt a little irked that Edward had assumed that she didn't understand the material so she pulled the paper over towards her closer and glanced at the questions. They were easy.

"If you want we can switch off every question. I did a lab similar to this back in Phoenix a while ago." Edward nodded and began with the first question. The two worked quickly and they finished well ahead of any of the other tables. Bella shifted uncomfortably as she stared out the window, aware that Edward was glancing at her.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" He asked suddenly. Bella gaped at him.

"Uhh no, is that any of your business?" She asked. Edward seemed to realize that his question had been a little forward and he backtracked.

"Sorry, it's not, but I was just wondering. You and Alice were talking all through lunch and I was just curious." He had a smirk on his face when he said the last part, and Bella could tell he wasn't really sorry. She frowned slightly.

"Your family doesn't have secrets? Surely what your siblings do is none of your business." She said but Edward laughed. He ran his hand through his messy hair and gazed at her, his eyes flitting slightly over her face, studying her.

"There are basically no secrets in my house. Sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. I'm used to talking with people who are easier to read so sometimes I forget how to restrain myself when I'm talking to people who I can't read. Which rarely ever happens." He muttered, and Bella eyed him quizzically.

"Do you meet a lot of people you can't read?" She asked, and Edward immediately shook his head.

"No, you are one of the first. Normally people's thoughts are an open book to me, but with you I just get confused."

"Their thoughts?" Bella asked and Edward hastily explained. She noticed that he said it so smoothly that it must have been rehearsed and she frowned slightly.

"By their thoughts I mean body language. People do different actions when they are feeling or thinking a certain way. People do certain things when they're nervous or scared, and you can see it in their actions. But some people have better poker faces; they can control their thoughts from translating into movement. Those people are harder to read." Edward said, his voice smooth but his eyes were still scanning her face, as though she were some sort of fascinating specimen.

"But I think I'm pretty easy to read, I mean I blush a lot and…" Bella said, trailing off and blushing as Edward just smiled at her.

"In some ways you are easy to read, but in other ways you are very difficult. You blush all the time, but your blush is non-discriminatory to your thoughts. You blush when you're happy and when you're sad or embarrassed. I bet you even blush when you are excited, and that makes you hard to read. You are fascinating Bella Swan." Edward murmured and Bella blushed under his gaze. She bit her lip gently and tried to screen her face with her hair, but Edward shook his head.

"Don't." He said quietly, reaching up to brush her hair out of her eyes. Bella blushed furiously, but out of the corner of her eyes she noticed three things. The first was that most of the class was staring at them, talk about awkward. Their eyes were not glued to their microscopes or looking down at their crotch where their phones were hidden, most of them were trained on Edward and Bella.

The second was that Edward's hand was just as cold as Alice's, and her skin formed goosebumps where his hand had touched. The contact didn't give the tingly sensation that Alice's had, but his smell lingered near her, and it was almost heavenly.

What Bella noticed finally was the door was open, and someone had walked in. Despite being in a crowded classroom Bella instantly had smelled the person when they walked in. Lilacs and honeysuckle wafted over her, and she instinctively turned toward the smell and inhaled.

Alice Cullen stood, handing Mr. Warner a stack of papers. She chatted happily, and although it was too quiet for Bella to hear clearly, the musical voice sounded heavenly to Bella's ears. Alice glanced over at Bella and gave a radiant smile, her eyes sparkling and her cute dimples showing. Then she looked at Edward. Bella wasn't sure whether she should laugh or be terrified. Alice's face looked like murder, her eyes darkened and her face contorted into a scowl. She shot daggers at Edward with her eyes and Edward looked almost afraid. He put his hands up defensively and turned back to his work. Alice scowled. When she glanced back over at Bella her eyes immediately brightened again and she gave a quick wave before she pranced out of the room.

Bella sat dumfounded. What on earth had just happened?

Edward sat quietly, and although he was just as polite to Bella as before, he didn't lean in as close and didn't ask any other questions. When the bell rang signaling the end of the day Edward stood and nodded his head at Bella cordially.

"Here let me hand in the papers, have a good day Bella." He said and whisked the papers out of his hand and took them to Mr. Varner and then left. Bella stood only to be intercepted by Jessica Stanley. She slammed her hands empathically on Bella's desk as she spoke.

"What on earth was that Bella? Did Edward Cullen ask you out? What did he say? What did you say?" Bella was still reeling from the odd encounter with Alice that she could barely speak.

"I don't know. We just talked. When Alice came in he stopped talking though." She said, but Jessica seemed to have witnessed an entirely different scene from Bella, and she recounted every moment as though Bella hadn't been there. By the time she finished, Jessica had surmised that Edward was interested in Bella but didn't like the other boys as Bella's rival so he had chosen to act during Biology so Jessica and the other students would see and spread the rumor that Edward was dating Bella. Which he would, according to Jessica, and he would ask her to prom and everything. Bella furrowed her brow as she gathered her bags and put away the lab equipment.

"I don't know, I thought it was just Edward trying to annoy Alice." She said. Jessica stopped her rambling long enough to raise one of her perfectly trimmed eyebrows.

"Why on earth would he do that? Never mind. So when do you think he's going to ask you out? Are you going to say yes? Of course you are. So what are you going to wear to prom?"

Bella walked to her truck after warding off Jessica. Both the Volovo and the BMW were gone and Bella went home undisturbed by anyone.

When she got home Charlie was there with two fish. He proudly showed her pictures he and Billy had taken of them, and he had even gutted them for her and put them in the fridge. She took them out and began to bread them when the phone rang. Bella quickly wiped one of her hands on a dishrag and grabbed the phone before balancing it in the crook of her neck.

"Hello?" She said, squeezing lemon on the fish before rolling it in the breadcrumbs.

"Hi Bella, this is Jake." A deep resonate voice said.

"Who?" Bella asked, dropping the fish into the aluminum foil pan.

"Jake, Jacob Black. We used to play together as kids. Or rather, you and my sisters played dress up with me, I still hold a grudge for that." Jake said, laughing loudly. Bella winced and shifted the phone with her elbow away from her ear slightly.

"I kinda remember, so what did you need Jake?" She asked, popping the fish in the oven and hurrying to the sink to wash her hands.

"Well Billy wanted to invite you and Charlie over for dinner one night, so you don't have to make dinner all the time. Rebecca is going to coming home too. So you wanna come?" He asked as Bella dried her hands. The sound of footsteps down the stairs made her turn, Charlie appeared freshly showered and in his pajamas.

"Hang on a second Jake, Charlie is here." She removed the phone from her ear and covered the receiver. "Charlie, Billy Black wants to invite us over for dinner at some point. His son Jacob is on the phone." Charlie smiled and nodded.

"Did he say when? This Friday would be good, I have an earlier shift so I'll be able to come home to shower before hand." Bella nodded and put the phone back on her ear.

"Jake? Charlie said that sounds good and wonders if a Friday would work, he can leave work early on Fridays." Jake seemed to repeat what Bella had said to someone else, Bella guess Billy, but his voice was so loud that Bella had no trouble hearing him.

"Dad, can Charlie and Bella come over Friday?" The response was muted; whoever it was was speaking at a normal volume. Jacob spoke into the phone.

"Yeah, Billy said Friday is fine. Rachel won't be home but Rebecca might come. Can you guys come over at seven?" Bella instinctively nodded and then realized that Jacob couldn't see her. She wondered what he looked like since the last time she had seen him he was just a little boy.

"Sure that's fine Jacob, see you Friday."

"Bye Bells." Jacob said and hung up. Bella crinkled her nose at the use of a nickname usually only her father used. She hadn't seen Jacob in years but they had been close. From what she remembered he had been a short boy with jet-black hair, slightly pudgy cheeks, and a mothers boy. When Rachel and Rebecca teased him, he used to go to his mother. Bella had heard from Charlie on the drive from the airport that Jacob's mother was deceased, but he hadn't elaborated.

Bella went upstairs to do her homework, occasionally walking downstairs to check on the fish. When the buzzer finally went of Bella had finished her work. She ate with Charlie and they talked a little of school, but Charlie seemed tired and Bella was fine with silence.

When Bella returned upstairs she emailed her mother. Her mother's last email had included a picture of her at Phil's practice, her mother waving happily under a sunny blue sky. Bella envied the warm weather her mother got to enjoy; so far it had rained all day since Bella had arrived at Forks.

Bella turned off her computer and got ready for bed. She glanced out of her window into the darkness, and then shivering slightly locked the window and closed the curtain.

**Tada done... Starting chapter 6 as we speak, maybe from the cullens view. My plan is to get the plot to where they drive to port angeles and then do a side chapter about a were creature there... anyway, rebecca is a funny name, just saying, spell check says it's wrong but... any thoughts?**


	6. Six

So Cullen point of view, I don't own anything SM does, and this is the beginning of the language which I think won't bother anyone but…..

So sorry I've been away! I knew this would happen though once I started doing a day job and volunteer work at night, I would be so lazy and tired I wouldn't do any writing. Six has been sitting on my pc for about a month, I just wanted to finish it up and edit it. Sorry if some bits sound odd, I tried my best but I can't quite seem to figure out what I want to say when it comes to relationships. I got a new computer! My first mac laptop, and it's so nice! But the keyboard is funny, and I'm still getting used to it.

Again, this was written over a month or two ago, so the ending may sound a bit different since I just revised it.

Six

Edward Cullen sat playing the piano in the music room of the Cullen house. The sun came slightly over the trees through the large windows and reflected off of Edward's piano. He glanced towards the window, noticing the overcast sky had been replaced with a soft pink glow of morning. His hands hovered over the keys, enjoying the momentary silence of the early morning. His excellent hearing could pick up the sound of the birds chirping happily outside, and a sound of two squirrels chasing each other through the trees. The calm was interrupted by a frustrated growl from downstairs. Edward sighed and blurred towards the door to poke his head out.

Alice Cullen, his younger sister, had her face pressed against the glass on one of the houses big bay windows, and was growling at the sky. Rosalie sat on one of the couches, eyes buried in a car magazine, but there was a faint smile on her lips. She was enjoying Alice's frustration.

Jasper stood near Alice, trying to pacify her, but his lips twitched as Alice turned on him and scowled.

"What's the matter?" Edward drawled and Alice turned on him.

_You know damn well what's the matter Edward. It's sunny out. _Alice thought, her face dark as she dared Edward to say more. Edward didn't have to though, because Emmett chimed in.

"I'm not sure if I trust your judgment anymore Alice. Maybe you'd be better off watching the human weather man." Emmett boomed. _Now he's going to get it_. Jasper thought, and Edward didn't bother to watch as Alice attacked her bear of a brother in a fury of tiny angry fists.

Edward studied Jasper who was still standing near the window. Edward was closer to Jasper than any of his other siblings, regardless of whether it was visible. Because Edward could read people's minds he understood people's deepest motivations and inner thoughts. It frustrated Edward therefore, that while he understood everything about _them_, they rarely understood him. It was only Jasper who could feel Edward's frustration towards others. And it was Edward who understood the depth that his brother held, despite his calm demeanor.

The recent events had driven a wedge between Alice and Jasper, and while Edward understood it more than others, it hurt him to hear Jasper's inner struggles.

_Edward, I know your thinking about Alice and I. It's fine, really_. Edward realized that Jasper had caught him staring, but Edward only scowled back. While Jasper could not read Edward's thoughts, Edward had learned to project very specific emotions towards Jasper that was very similar to expressing his thoughts verbally. It had taken decades of practice.

_Edward, you know as long as I have how Alice's feelings have changed. It's nothing she should feel guilty about. You either, for that matter_. Edward was about to continue their silent conversation when someone else's thoughts pushed it's way into his mind. It was as though someone had turned the volume up suddenly on the radio and changed the channel.

_I wonder how long it will take for Alice to get Bella laid. I wonder if they'd agree to let me video it._ Edward quirked an eyebrow at Emmett, who was sitting cross legged at Rosalie's feet. When he met Edward's eye he let out a wide grin.

"Wanna start a betting pool Eddie?" Edward shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"You better not let Alice know what you were just thinking." He said quietly, but Alice, who had gone back to glaring at the sky whipped around.

"What? What was Emmett thinking?" She said before glaring at Emmett. Rosalie reached out, not even looking from her magazine, and smacked Emmett on the back of the head.

Esme blurred into the room and pursed her lips, but she was fighting a smile.

"Please don't fight children, _or _start betting pools on your siblings private affairs. Alice dear, is it going to be sunny all day?" Alice gave a glum nod and Esme sighed.

"I'm sorry dear that you can't go hang out with Bella today. She seems like a nice human. But please children; don't make a mess of the house. Go outside if your going to play."

As soon as Esme said Bella's name, Alice immediately began thinking of the human girl. Rapid images flashed in Edward's mind, of the past, the present, and the future.

"Alice, stop, you're giving me a headache." He growled, before disappearing to his room to escape the flood of thoughts from his family members. Alice stuck out her tongue at him and flopped down on a chair near the window to sulk.

It was hard not thinking of Bella as Alice sat there. She sighed dramatically and rolled over on her stomach to lean over the chair back and gaze out the window. Of course she had seen that it would be sunny today, but she had been so distracted talking to Bella the day before that she had forgotten she wouldn't be in. She wished she had gotten the human's phone number, but screwing up her eyes in thought Alice thought that Bella might not _have _a cell phone. That would have to change.

From upstairs she heard Edward continue to play his piano, and beside her Emmett had turned on the xbox.

"Hey Jazz, you wanna play? I bet you that Rosalie and I can kick your ass!" Emmett crooned as Jasper approached the couch. Jasper gave a crooked grin as he sat.

"The only reason you will win is because Rosalie is playing, you wouldn't last a minute against me Emmett." He said as Emmett threw him a controller. Emmett scowled but Rosalie smirked.

"Damn right he wouldn't, and you better remember it babe." She said to Emmett before taking his controller from him.

"Whipped!" Edward shouted from his room, and he blurred out of his room to watch from the second floor. A minute later his face screwed up.

"I did not need to know that Emmett… Ew." With that he blurred out of the front door, presumably to go hunting. Alice and Jasper shared an 'I don't want to know' look.

Alice's mind wandered again as she watched Rosalie beat everyone at Call of Duty 4. Her mind went to Bella, as it usually did these days.

Alice's first vision of Bella had been a year ago. It had been a quick flash; Bella laughing while Alice sat on her bed, Bella's eyes slightly red from recently crying. That short vision had changed Alice's world. She felt a myriad of emotions, love, guilt, confusion, and excitement. Jasper had tried to comfort her when Alice knew that he was suffering, and Alice was grateful for that. She had spent a day with Jasper in the house alone; their family had left so they could have some privacy. For hours, the two had sat on the couch, his hand covering hers, and her cheek resting on his shoulder. They hadn't spoken, the change had occurred silently. After that day, Jasper was Alice's brother, nothing more.

Shortly after that Jasper left on a hunting trip with Edward, just the two of them. When they returned, both had large cracks in their skin but both were smiling. Edward told Alice later that Jasper and Edward had sparred, nearly to the death. While Jasper fought he had screamed, the entire time. When the fight was over, the two brothers hunted together as if nothing had happened.

Now Alice sat, thinking of Bella. She no longer felt guilty of thinking of her now that she had met her. Her mahogany hair, her beautiful full lips and pink blush. Her dark brown doe-like eyes and her intoxicating smell. Alice still struggled with Bella's scent, it wasn't that it made her thirsty, but it made her yearn for more. When Alice had first caught a whiff of the human, she wanted to bury her face in Bella's scent and be completely enveloped by it. When Mike had approached Bella, gotten close to her, let his scent creep onto hers, Alice wanted to rip his arm off. As Esme had explained to Alice before she met Bella, vampires became incredibly possessive of their mates if they had yet to claim them. Was Bella her mate? Without a doubt. While Alice had been with Jasper for decades, she decided that while she loved him, she wasn't _in _love with him. When her eyes first met Bella's, Alice knew that she had met her mate.

Her inner beast had roared, yearning to be closer to her mate, get to know her, protect her. Her throat had burned, and at the end of the day Alice had been forced to run into the forest and destroy everything, feast on everything in her sight. Now she was calm. Her protective nature had overridden her hunger, and now she yearned for Bella's company. Well, she yearned for more then that.

"Alice, keep your dirty thoughts to yourself. You barely even know the girl and you're already thinking of-"

"Shut up Edward!" Alice screamed, and if she could blush she would. She crossed her arms and scowled as her siblings laughed at her.

Alice looked impatiently at the clock. Only five minutes had passed. She gave a frustrated growl and leapt off the couch. It was tough being an immortal vampire, time moved slower.

"I'm going for a walk." She snapped. She left the house among howls of laughter from Emmett and a following 'No!' as he got blown up by Rosalie while his eyes were turned from the game.

Alice had run a few miles from the house when she someone coming from behind her. She stopped and allowed Jasper to catch up.

"Hey." He said quietly and stopped a few feet away from her. Alice gave a small smile as Jasper held out his hand.

"Need some company?" He said his voice dropping into his southern drawl. Alice giggled.

"Wanna race?" She said, smirking. Jasper gave a wide grin as Alice took off like a rocket.

The vampires looked like two blurs through the forest, zigzagging through the trees, their laughter echoing in the ears of forest inhabitants.

Bella arrived at school early, and didn't fail to notice that neither the red BMW nor the Volvo was in their usual spots. She spotted Angela and Jessica sitting at one of the picnic tables, Jessica on top of the picnic table lounging, and Angela using Jessica's shadow to read a book. The sun was bright out, but it was chilly and the wind blew away any warmth that the sun might have provided. Bella approached and Angela smiled and motioned for her to sit next to her.

"Hey Bella, nice that the sun's out right?" Angela said as Bella sat next to her.

"Yeah, everything looks so different when it's sunny." Bella said, looking at the trees shimmer a bright green in the sun, but she continued to glance at where the silver Volvo sat. Angela noticed but she didn't say anything. Jessica finally spoke, hopping off of the tabletop to sit on the opposite bench.

"So, has Edward asked you out?" She said impatiently. Angela's eyes widened, apparently Jessica had failed in her duty to inform the whole school of Edward taking an interest in Bella.

"No. But I don't think he's interested in going out with me. And I'm not interested in going out with him either." Bella stated. Jessica looked at Bella in disbelief, but Angela just nodded and turned back to her book.

"What do you mean you don't want to go out with Edward Cullen, he was being super flirty with you yesterday, and he even brushed back your hair." At that, Angela did look up, which made Bella blush. Still she shook her head.

"Yeah but I think he was just being nice, besides the first day he was trying to ignore me. Anyway I'm not really interested in him." Jessica gave a scoff, as if being not interested in Edward Cullen was unheard of.

Bella glanced at the parking spot again, but it was occupied by someone else's car. The parking lot was nearly full, and most of the students were either already inside or enjoying the sun outside. When the bell rang, the students all reluctantly filed towards the building and Bella cast one final look back towards the parking lot, but the Cullen's weren't there.

Bella's classes were uneventful, although throughout the morning Mike and Eric had been bugging Bella with questions similar to the ones Jessica had asked. When Bella stated that she wasn't dating the aloof Edward Cullen, Mike and Eric only smothered her with affection more, making Bella very irritated by the time lunch rolled around.

Bella walked into the lunchroom and got her lunch, not failing to notice that the Cullen table was empty.

She sat next to Angela and Katie, Eric and Ben across from them. Bella dug into her food, but her silence went unnoticed by everyone except Angela. Angela cast Bella a worried glance, but Bella shrugged and Angela nodded, turning her attention back to Ben.

When Mike and Lauren arrived, Jessica trailing behind, Bella was almost finished with her food. While Angela had been discreet enough about Bella's silence, Jessica immediately noticed Bella glancing toward the Cullen table and pointing it out.

"Oh the Cullen's don't come in on nice days. Doctor Cullen takes them out camping or hiking on nice days. I wish _my_ parents let me skip school on nice days, I even said it was good for my health and everything. But they said no." Jessica said. Next to her Lauren smirked as she watched Bella glance back over at the table.

"Why Bella, you missing your boyfriend Edward? As if Edward Cullen would ever ask you out." Beside her Angela frowned, but it was Katie who spoke up.

"Oh, give it a break. Bella can choose whether she wants to go out with Edward or not, and she has as good of a chance of going out with him as any girl." Lauren just scowled but Katie rolled her eyes and was about to speak when Ben shook his head. He mouthed 'not worth it' and when Lauren whipped her head around he gave an innocent smile.

When Bella got home Charlie was just getting out of his cruiser.

"Hey Charlie, how was work?" Bella asked as Charlie unlocked the front door.

"It was fine Bells, it was fine. Lot of paperwork."

The two had a quiet dinner, mostly leftovers from last night thrown together to make fish sandwiches. Bella went upstairs to do her homework and call her mom. She sat down to finish one of the books she had gotten from the library when she heard something outside. A branch snapped. Bella sat up. The book she happened to be reading was mystery novel, which didn't help the situation at all.

Tentatively she walked to the window and looked out. Nothing… Just inky darkness.

The next day it was pouring out. Bella looked outside with a groan and grabbed her trusty rain jacket. She dressed in grays and blacks, reflecting the dark and dismal day. On the way to her truck, Bella almost slipped and fell in the mud, but her hand shot out at the last second and she hung from the stoop railing like a rag doll, glad that no one was around to see her.

Bella climbed into her truck and realized with horror that the passenger window had been left partially open. Bella groaned as she put her backpack on her lap and looked at the puddle on the floor of her truck. The sound of a car pulling into the driveway startled her. Looking through her rearview mirror she saw the silver Volvo pulling up behind her truck.

As soon as the passenger door opened, Bella's heart skipped a beat. Alice pranced around the puddles in a bright yellow rain jacket. She reached Bella's car and tapped on the window.

"Need a ride?" She asked, her voice clear despite the glass barrier between the two. Bella nodded dumbly and got out.

She followed Alice to the silver Volvo and almost slipped again, but Alice's hand reached out and grabbed her by the waist, preventing her from falling.

"Thanks," Bella murmured, blushing under Alice's beaming smile.

Alice opened the back door for her and Bella climbed in. The inside of the Volvo was nice, but it was a little chilly. Bella sat behind the driver, and when she glanced at the driver seat she noticed that it was Edward who was driving the car.

"Hello Bella." He said politely, turning on the heat as Alice closed the door. Only then did Bella notice that Alice had climbed in next to her, instead of returning to the front passenger seat.

"So Bella, did anything interesting happen at school yesterday?" Alice asked, scooting closer to Bella as Edward backed slowly out of the driveway.

"Not really," Bella said, "Did you and your family have fun yesterday? Did you go hiking?" Alice shrugged.

"I like hiking, but it wasn't warm out. And I don't mind school." Alice added, looking straight at Bella. Bella nodded and then glanced at Edward who was looking straight ahead at the road.

"Do you like shopping?" Alice asked suddenly, breaking the silence. Bella shook her head.

"Not really no," She said, but when she noticed Alice's pouting face she laughed. "I guess I go shopping once in a while, but only when forced."

Then I'll have to force you." Said Alice cheerfully. She and Bella laughed along together while Edward gave a crooked grin. Bella suddenly noticed how fast the trees were zipping by.

"Woah we're going way to fast! Slow down or you're going to crash." She practically shouted. Alice just laughed and Edward grimaced at the sudden volume of Bella's outburst.

"No we won't, we always drive this fast and we never get caught." Alice said, but she shot a glance at Edward. Edward glared at Alice through the rearview mirror, but slowed down. The trees still whipped past the car at a fast rate, and Bella guessed they were still more than twenty miles over the legal speed limit, but Edward seemed to refuse to go any slower.

Bella had expected the stares, but she still blushed as Alice hopped out and opened her door, Edward exiting the driver's seat smoothly in front of her. Bella blushed harder as she noticed Jessica jumping up and down silently squealing, making an 'I told you so' face to Lauren. Lauren looked pissed, and Mike scowled, but Ben and Angela waved cheerily.

Bella blushed even deeper when Alice grabbed Bella's arm and looped it with hers, walking towards the school. As soon as her skin made contact with Alice's, all thoughts of other students were driven from Bella's mind. Bella could feel how cold Alice's arm was against Bella's, even through her rain jacket, but she didn't mind. She looked down at the petite pixie and gave a small smile. Alice beamed back at her.

Alice walked Bella to her first class, and when Bella protested weakly Alice just rolled her eyes and giggled. Edward peeled off at the lockers, and loped off towards his first class. Bella hadn't failed to notice that Rosalie, who was leaning against her locker with Emmett, looked less than pleased at Bella's presence, but Alice gave Rosalie a glare, and Rosalie looked away scowling.

"Here you are Bella, see you at lunch?" Alice asked hopefully. Bella blinked, she hadn't even noticed that they had arrived to her English class. Her feet had automatically followed Alice's and her eyes had constantly been going over Alice's figure while they walked.

"Uhh, yeah. See you at lunch Alice." Bella said quietly and Alice laughed before hugging Bella and skipping off.

Bella stood still after the hug, Alice's scent lingering on her clothes. The brief second when they had embraced, Bella thought she had heard Alice inhale before she skipped off, and Bella blushed as she remembered the petite girls frame pressed against her own.

They finished discussing the latest chapter of _The Great Gatsby _in class and Bella and Angela spent the rest of the time talking. Angela didn't ask questions about the Cullen's dropping off Bella in the morning, she was just as kind and gentle as ever.

During government Jessica spent the class pestering Bella with a swarm of questions about the Cullen's, and Bella noticed that Mike was not so subtly eavesdropping the entire time.

By the time lunch had rolled around, Bella felt she had been run over in a stampede. _A stampede of highly curious teenagers with nothing better to do than gossip_,Bella thought. She walked into the cafeteria and was immediately tackled. She almost fell over but the small body that had tackled her wrapped petite arms around her waist and held her upright.

"Hey, are you ok?" Alice's sweet voiced asked Bella, her mouth so close to Bella's ears Bella shivered slightly. Alice immediately let go and danced around into Bella's vision, a grin on her face.

"I just prevented you from totally falling on your ass." She said playfully, and Bella smiled along as Alice looped arms with her and walked towards the food line.

"Only after tackling me, making me nearly fall over." Bella said as she grabbed the salad tongs and began loading forkfuls on her plate. Alice stuck her tongue out at her, but Bella noticed that while Alice accompanied her to buy her lunch, she didn't buy anything herself.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Bella asked as she left the line, Alice skipping along beside her.

"Nope, I have a special diet so I don't usually eat until I get home. Dietary problems, but it's helpful having a dad for a doctor, and Esme always makes the best food." Alice said, and quickly changed the subject as they walked to their seats.

The two sat alone together at one of the round tables, Alice's siblings at their usual table across the room. Bella noticed that none of the Alice's siblings seemed very interested in their food, they mostly sat and talked quietly. Edward and Jasper were talking in low voices, and Emmett would occasionally interject with a loud comment that would earn him a jab in the ribs from Rosalie. Rosalie was sitting with her back to Alice and Bella, but she had positioned her chair at an angle so she could shoot dark glances over her magazine at Bella. Alice didn't seem to notice and chattered away, but Bella could have sworn that when Alice pretended to cough into her arm, she had really given a threatening look at her siblings, effectively causing Rosalie to turn in her seat in a huff.

"Bella? Are you listening?" Alice asked, her voice bright and not at all offended that Bella had spaced out in front of her.

"What? Oh sorry Alice, can you repeat that?" Bella asked sheepishly, blushing furiously and taking another stab at her salad. She had been gazing at Alice's hands, painted fingernails delicately holding a water bottle. Alice giggled and repeated her question.

"I was wondering if you were doing anything Friday afternoon. I know that Forks isn't that big, but if you wanted to hang out I can show around or we can go hiking or something." Bella was about to make a comment about how she and hiking didn't mix, when she remembered that she and Charlie were having dinner with the Black's Friday night.

"Sorry, I can't Alice. Charlie made plans to have dinner with some family friends, so I don't think I will be able to go. Some other time?" Alice pouted for a minute, but she seemed to recover with a sigh and an eye roll, which made Bella giggle.

"Oh fine," She said, stretching out the word 'fine' into an exasperated whine, "But by next week you won't need a tour of Forks, not that you really needed one anyway, so I guess I'll just have to take you shopping." Bella's eyes widened in horror, but before she could protest the bell rang and Alice jumped up, grinning as she grabbed Bella's empty tray and skipped to the trashcan.

Bella and Alice parted at the door to the cafeteria, the rest of the Cullen children with the exception of Edward already out the door to class. Edward seemed to be waiting for Alice, and Bella nodded shyly at him and walked past towards her next class. She met Angela by the lockers, and although Angela seemed to want to talk about Bella's new popularity with the Cullen's, she was too polite to ask and simply accompanied Bella to class chatting aimlessly. When Bella told Angela about having dinner with the Black family, Angela smiled warmly at her.

"Your friends live out at the reservation? Mike and Eric usually drag Ben and I to the beaches down at La Push during the summer, it's a nice place. I suppose the waters a lot colder than most people's idea of a beach, but it's pretty nice. Eric and Ben want to go out again to go surfing before it gets too cold, although we're pretty lucky that we have relatively mild weather here, would you like to come along?" Bella agreed to go, with the proviso that she wouldn't have to surf, since she highly doubted she would be more coordinated on a moving board than on the ground.

It began raining when Bella and Angela sat down in class, and Bella glanced out of the window every now and then. While the rain seemed to make everything dreary and slow, Bella was secretly glad for it, because it meant that the Cullen's would be in school, and Alice with her radiant smile.

**And that concludes chapter 6. Sorry about the long wait, I've been away working, sick with a cold and fever, and got a new computer and ipod that have thoroughly distracted me for the past month. Like I said…. Procrastinator… I don't have Internet for a week so I am trying to churn out a few more chapters, but my knowledge of Twilight is limited, so I might have to do some editing when I get the wi-fi back. Next chapter will be in la push with the werewolves, and I still haven't decided what I want bella to be, were-wolf, were-bear, or vampire….. thoughts?**


	7. Seven

Seven

Bella sat at her desk getting a start on her homework, the lamp on her desk the only source of light in the small room. When she had gotten home from school she had eaten a snack while watching tv, and then went upstairs to finish her homework. It was twilight, the rainy day hiding the sun behind the clouds, and the house was filled with a depressing gloom. Bella had hoped that forcing herself to do homework would take her mind off the silence that seemed to seep through every crack of the house. It was nearly seven. Charlie was supposed to be coming home early so he could shower and change for dinner at Billy Black's house, and Bella had milled around watching television for an hour before getting to bored to sit doing nothing. He was late.

Bella tried to drown herself in homework, forcing herself to learn about the colonization of Cuba. She didn't have so much homework that she had to start on a Friday night, but waiting for Charlie and not having anything to do made Bella anxious. Giving up on Cuba and its occupiers, Bella left her desk and headed downstairs.

The first floor was almost pitch black, and Bella fumbled for the light switch, throwing the living room into a bright warm glow that contrasted sharply with the eerie half-light of the yard. Five minutes to seven. Bella turned the television on just for some background noise, and proceeded into the kitchen.

Even though the purpose of the dinner at the Blacks was for Bella to not have to cook for the night, she felt she ought to bring something. Although Renee was not nearly good at cooking as her daughter, in fact she was close to Charlie's level, she had taught Bella that when it came to being a dinner guest, bringing a salad or a dessert was always good manners. Bella had a suspicion that they would be having fish, a recent catch of Billy or Charlie's, so she began to prepare a salad. The hourly news came on, the loud music filling the kitchen. It was seven, still no Charlie.

"_Shoppers out in swarms for what looks like a busy holiday shopping season, warm weather continuing towards the holidays has ski resorts worried, and finally, alarming murders have police on the lookout for a serial killer. These are tonight's headlines on Channel 5 News, your trusted news source, and now here's Tom." _

Bella finished washing the lettuce and glanced around at the television. The weather forecast for the week was displayed on the screen, rain. Bella glanced at the door, the porch light a weak beacon on the oncoming gloom.

"_And our final top headline: Reports of several disappearances and murders outside of Seattle worries local law enforcement. So far over three disappearances have been reported and two bodies recovered outside the city in the woods. Policemen have been out with the K-9 unit working to find the rest of the missing civilians, but citizens are recommended not to travel alone outside at night and report any suspicious activity to the police. This concludes our breaking news stories, now onto the latest news on Wallstreet, Joanne?" _

Bella finished putting together the salad and was just about to make some dressing when she heard Charlie's police cruiser pull up. Charlie walked in wet and scowling, his dark hair matted to his face and his shirt only half dry.

"Is everything alright?" Bella asked, noticing the dark look on Charlie's face.

"Tell you in a minute Bells, just going to jump in the shower, will you call Billy and tell him we'll be late? Got held up at work." Charlie removed his muddy boots and tromped upstairs while Bella dried her hands and picked up the phone. It was Billy who picked up this time instead of Jacob.

"Hello?" He asked, his voice a little gruffer than Jacobs', but he didn't shout like Jacob did.

"Hi, Billy? It's Bella. Look Charlie just got in so it looks like we're going to be late." Bella heard a grunt on the other line and then someone talking in the background.

"That's fine Bella, I expected as much once I heard the news. See you whenever you get here, no rush." With that Billy hung up, and Bella returned to finishing her salad dressing.

_How had Billy known that Charlie was going to be late? It wasn't the murders, _Bella wondered, _but if it was, how did Billy know about it when it had just been aired on the news. _He had made it sound like he had known they would be late long before Bella had called.

Charlie hurried down the stairs, having changed into a simple button down and a dry pair of pants and socks.

"Ready to go?" He asked, grabbing his raincoat off the hook and bending to tie up his shoes. Bella nodded and grabbed the salad and salad dressing, slipped on her shoes, and turned off the tv and the lights.

"You might want a raincoat, it stopped just as I got home but it's been a steady drizzle all day, as usual." Charlie grunted, scowling slightly. Bella wasn't sure why Charlie was in such a bad mood, but she assumed she would hear about it later so she got into the car without a complaint.

The car ride was surprisingly silent; the only sound the engine and the windshield wipers. The roads were relatively empty, and as they drove towards the reservation, the only thing visible in the headlights beams was the ever-present stretch of trees and road running endlessly into the dark.

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, small pinpricks of light were visible through the gloom. Lighted windows of houses rushed past them, vanishing into the dark as soon as they had come. Charlie slowed and turned off the main road onto a street with more lights. Soon they had entered the reservation and were driving along a lit street with various houses nestled among the trees.

"Here we are." Charlie grunted, pulling into a driveway and shutting off the engine. It was the first words he had uttered since leaving the house. The Black house was a small two story one, but Bella couldn't see much of it in the dark, only the illuminated front porch and windows. A van sat outside the house and several broken dirt bikes rested against the side of the garage.

Charlie walked to the door, Bella following him with the salad. The front door had a ramp running up it, and Charlie walked up it and knocked on the door.

A massive boy opened the door. Bella gaped. The boy was tall, muscled, and tanned, but he had a boyish grin on his face. He wore a collared t-shirt that showed his bulging muscles, a little smaller than Emmett's but still massive, and sweatpants. His hair was cropped short and on his shoulder, Bella could see a tribal tattoo of some sort, but it was hidden from her when Jacob turned to open the door more fully.

"Charlie, Bella. Come on in." He said. Charlie chuckled and walked past the boy into a small hallway.

"You seem to grow taller every time I see you Jake. Bella, you remember Jacob don't you?" Bella nodded faintly and shook hands with Jacob, who was grinning at her. She could barely believe that Jacob Black, who was younger than her if she remembered, was a good foot taller than her.

Jacob led Charlie and Bella into a living room and kitchen area, where Billy was sitting watching the game. Bella instantly realized why a ramp had been installed over the front stairs, Billy was in a wheelchair.

Jacob looked like his father, Bella could see the resemblance, but Billy was much smaller than Jacob who seemed to occupy a great deal of space. Billy had a long black braid, dark small eyes, and wore a flannel shirt. His legs were covered with a rough woven blanket and he turned his chair and grinned as Charlie entered and offered him a beer.

"Thought you might need one." He said, and momentarily his smile faded as he patted Charlie on the shoulder before turning to Bella.

"Isabella, so nice to see you again. I suppose you don't remember me very well but you used to play here with my daughters." Bella nodded politely and shook hands with Billy as Jacob made room for Charlie and Bella to sit on the couch. The living room had a rustic look too it, and the small kitchen that Jacob entered seemed designed for someone much smaller.

Jacob seemed very keen on attending to Bella, and Bella could see that despite his size Jacob was still as kind and caring as he was as a child, if not a little overbearing. Occasionally, as Bella helped Jacob set the table, Jacob would glance at her, the glance of a maturing boy, and Bella inwardly rolled her eyes, another developing hormonal teenager.

"So your sisters couldn't make it?" She asked conversationally, and Jacob nodded.

"Yeah, they both had work and stuff. How do you like Forks so far?" Bella shrugged and Jacob gave a knowing grin.

"I get sick of the rain too sometimes, but out here it can be nice sometimes. A bit to small though, you know? I've thought about leaving and going somewhere else, but I can't, so I guess it's fine here." Bella gave him a curious look and he quickly corrected his statement with a glance at his father, who was immersed in conversation with Charlie.

"I mean, Dad doesn't really want us to leave, and I'm the only one who hasn't left yet. He was really sad when Rebecca left and argued with her a lot. Ever since Mom died he's been kinda lonely, so I don't wanna leave." Jacob played with a fork and then glanced back up at Bella.

"How has school been going?" Bella shrugged and walked around the counter to rejoin Charlie and Billy in the living room.

"It's alright, being the new kid isn't fun, that's for sure." Jacob nodded in agreement as he leaned causally against the back of the sofa. Bella, feeling awkward, stood a few feet from him and gripped her soda can tighter. She glanced over at Charlie, who seemed to be conversing with Billy in a low but intense voice, but his voice was steadily growing louder.

"Interfering with a police investigation is what I would call it! I know you want to protect the kid and the reservation, but if this kid got a glimpse of the suspect, then I will have to bring him in for questioning." But Billy was shaking his head, his voice firm.

"And I'm telling you Charlie, the kid didn't see anything. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. You know that news of this leaking out would be bad press, and the poor kid has already suffered enough. You can go over and get his statement, but there is no need to take him down to the station."

"What happened?" Bella asked, curiosity getting the better of her. In front of her Jacob frowned, apparently upset that he had been cut off from his conversation of motorcycles. Charlie grunted and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, but Billy turned his chair to face Bella.

"A kid from the reservation found the body of two hikers up in the woods earlier today. They were off the path and in a deserted area, but they seem to be the latest victims reported in the news about the series of attacks." As he finished, he glanced at Jacob and gave him a significant look, and Jacob frowned but nodded. Charlie gave a sigh and rose to grab another beer, leaving Bella and the others to sit in uncomfortable silence.

"Of course we all know who's behind it." Jacob said, glowering. Bella looked at him surprised, but when he opened his mouth to elaborate Billy shot him a warning glance.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked, but Jacob seemed to have changed his mind.

"I didn't mean, well I was just joking, poor joke really…. Never mind." He looked uncomfortably at his father, and Bella realized that despite his size, Jacob still seemed to defer to his father for leadership, something that seemed to be changing. Billy seemed to have realized this as well, and he gave his son a rigid nod, not of approval, but of acceptance. Jacob could have easily picked up Billy and thrown him bodily out of the room, but his loyalty for his father and guilt seemed to outweigh his individual opinions.

"Are the bodies being examined at the local hospital?" Bella asked quietly, asking only to move the conversation forward and prevent awkward silence as she inwardly continued to ponder Jacob Black's relationship with his father. A surprising outburst caused her to look up suddenly. Jacob had given a deep growl, animalistic sounding, and crushed his soda can in his hand. Bella looked at the crumpled remnants of the can and winced slightly.

"Well having the bodies examined by _him _won't provide results, I bet he's just covering it up, but the police seem to trust him." Jacob said angrily, his muscles tensing. Billy seemed to struggle with himself, wanting to reprimand his son, but his face agreeing with every word Jacob uttered.

"Who?" Bella asked, but she could tell that Jacob was getting more and more worked up and she wished Charlie would get back from the kitchen.

"That _Cullen_. He works at the hospital and they probably brought the bodies right to him, and he probably wiped any trace of the attack from them." Jacob seemed about to say more but Charlie walked back in, two beers in hand.

"Here you go Billy, do you think we should eat soon?" Charlie seemed unaware of the tension in the room as he handed Billy his beer before moving towards the dining room table.

Dinner seemed tense and Bella wished wistfully that she had accepted Alice's offer to hang out on Friday instead of sitting through uncomfortable silence. She was itching to ask Jacob what he had meant when he said that Dr. Cullen was not to be trusted with the bodies of the hikers. Although not all of the Cullen's seemed particularly friendly, Rosalie Cullen came to mind, she didn't think any of them seemed particularly dangerous or untrustworthy. Jacob and Billy seemed to dislike Dr. Cullen, but if Dr. Cullen was as pleasant as his wife and children, Bella couldn't see anything particularly wrong.

"So Bella, how has the first week back been?" Billy asked, as Charlie was still moodily picking at his food and seemed to not want to discuss the police case. Jacob rose slightly to grab another plateful of potato salad, he had already gone through three portions, and Bella was amazed at his massive appetite.

"It's been fine. A few kids from school want to come out to La Push to go to the beach soon before the water gets too cold. I would think it's plenty cold now but they seem to want to brave it." Bella said with a shrug. Billy gave a grin, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Well you know teenagers, they don't seem to get cold. Certainly the water is cold but with a decent dry suit you might manage to catch a few waves. Do stop by if you come around, I'm sure Jacob would like to catch up some more." Jacob gave a grin and loaded his plate with more ribs, the potato salad gone, perhaps dumped in a wormhole somewhere.

Eventually the conversation turned back to sports, Charlie becoming animated again when Billy brought up the latest football scores. Jacob seemed to be attempting to make conversation with Bella, but he appeared to lack the ability to multitask as he shoveled food into his mouth with a ferociousness that reminded Bella strongly of her aunts Irish wolfhound. Her aunt doted on the dog, but due to its size it had to be fed enormous quantities of food. Bella noticed that Billy's fierce pride of Jacobs's appetite was very similar to the looks of satisfaction her aunt gave her dog as it crushed animal bones with its canines. A loud crunching noise brought Bella back to her senses, Jacob had just snapped a rib in half, and was gnawing on it ravenously. Bella stifled a giggle.

Dinner became more relaxed, and Bella soon forgot about the uncomfortable conversation regarding the Cullen's from earlier that evening. Jacob, or Jake as he preferred being called, seemed eager to make Bella laugh, and he managed to make her choke on her drink on more than one occasion over the course of dinner.

"Would anyone like desert? I'm afraid to say that I didn't make it, but a good friend of ours made some delicious cake." At Billy's words Jacob leapt up, eager for more food. He made a beeline for the kitchen and only stopped to briefly scoop up a handful of chips and shove them into his mouth.

"Quite the eater you got there Billy." Charlie said, eyebrows raised but a grin spread over his face. Billy gave a laugh, not quite as booming as Jake's but loud and light.

"Yes well, he does run up a grocery bill, and let's not even talk about when his friends come over. He seems to be practicing his manners tonight though, normally he would just eat the cake in the kitchen and bring the empty platter over." Bella laughed with Billy and then stood to help Jake with the dessert. She entered the kitchen to find Jake indeed slicing himself a piece of cake while he tipped an almost empty bag of chips into his mouth, eating the crumbs. If it had been anyone else, Bella thought that his piggish attitude would be revolting, but it made Bella laugh seeing Jake eating with one hand and daintily cutting a cake with the other.

"Need help?" She asked, grabbing four plates from the cabinet and approaching Jacob.

"Sure," He said with a grin, crumpling the empty bag of chips in his hand and tossing it backhanded into the trash. Bella moved forward, but stopped when she noticed several pictures pinned to the fridge. Most were of Jacob and his sisters when they were children. Jacob's sisters both looked similar to him, with the same dark hair and dark eyes, and the same soft features. There were a few pictures of them grown up, Jacob towering over his sisters, both of whom looked more mature, but all three wearing the same dimpled grins.

Another picture depicted a bonfire on the beach, with a few of Jacob's friends. Eight or so boys and a girl sat on logs around a fire. One had a guitar, and judging by the expressions of those around the boy, he was playing badly, but everyone had a goofy grin on their faces. What caught Bella's attention was that all of the people in the photograph were tanned and heavily muscled. It could have been a medium weight wrestlers camping trip, and even the girl was buff. They all had the same tattoo, a swirling tribal symbol on the left arm. Jacob wasn't in the picture, but Bella supposed that he was the one taking the picture, but she then she noticed that he was in the very back, but he looked different. He wasn't as muscled, and shorter, but Bella hadn't recognized him because his hair was long in the photo. It was like he used to wear it, long and put in a sloppy ponytail.

"This is you with long hair." Bella said with a grin, and Jacob glanced at the photo and gave a cross between a smile and a grimace.

"Yeah, that was a fun beach trip, one of my first with the gang, but I still had my hair long. Kind of embarrassing." He ran his fingers through his short-cropped hair, and Bella had to agree that he looked older and more handsome with short hair, but she gave him a playful nudge.

"I'm sure you looked like a very pretty girl from behind before you had your growth spurt." Bella teased, and Jake scowled but he laughed along with her.

"There was this one time, when I was younger, that a tourist asked me for directions and called me a girl. You should have seen his face when I turned around. Rebecca thought it was hilarious and kept reminding me of it for weeks." He said, and he and Bella dissolved in laughter at the thought. Bella glanced at the next photograph, one of a boy and an older woman. Realizing that the boy was Jacob, she looked at the woman and saw the similar dark eyes, round face, and dark hair.

"Is this your mother?" She asked quietly. Jacob turned to look at the photograph, holding the cut up cake.

"Yeah." He said quietly, his previous happy mood disappearing rapidly.

"I'm sorry, Jake, I didn't mean to upset-" But Jake cut her off with a forced smile. "It's fine, Bella. It was a while ago but I still…." There was a long pause, Bella reached out and placed a comforting hand on Jake's shoulder, but instantly her hand recoiled.

"Oh my god Jake, you're hot." Jake gave a cocky grin, his previous sadness seeming to evaporate.

"Gee thanks Bella, although I already knew that." But Bella frowned.

"No I mean you really seem to have a temperature, your skin is really hot. Are you feeling ok? Maybe you should go to a doctor." Jake just laughed and shrugged Bella's hand away.

"I'm fine, I guess being hotheaded runs in the family." He grabbed the plates and left, a bit too quickly, but Bella followed close behind.

"Jake I really think you should see a doctor, or at least tell Billy", but she was cut off as Jake gave a whoop and pumped his fist, causing one of the pieces of cake to slide dangerously close to the edge of the plate. Billy had turned the football game on, and a player had just scored. Jacob turned back to Bella with a grin on his face.

"Here, have some cake."

It was getting late by the time Bella and Charlie prepared to leave. Charlie seemed to be in a much better mood than he had started the evening with, and he gave a hearty laugh as Billy and Jacob said goodbye.

"Did you have fun Bells?" He asked as they drove home, the radio playing jazz softly in the background.

"Yeah," Bella said with a smile, although it was too dark to even see much of Charlie's face. "It was nice catching up with Jake and Billy." Although now she had a quiet moment to think, Bella began pondering what Jacob had said about the Cullen's. From what she knew of them, they were a decent family, so she couldn't understand Jacob's hostility.

"Dad, what do you think of the Dr. Cullen?" She asked quietly. Charlie turned his head to look at her curiously.

"I think he's a great doctor, a great father, and a great man. Why?" Charlie rarely gave so much praise to others, and usually in fewer syllables, so Bella didn't answer immediately.

"It's nothing really, Jake didn't seem to like the Cullen's, and so I was wondering if there were others who don't like the Cullen's. I think they're fine." Charlie gave a grunt and turned to look at Bella again, hands gripping the wheel, eyes serious.

"Now look here, Bells, some people in Forks don't particularly like the Cullen's but it's their own stupid jealousy, nothing Dr. Cullen and his family have done. This town should be grateful that such a respected and highly skilled doctor as Dr. Cullen would come to live in such a small town. Some people think they're snobs, or weird, but the Cullen's have done nothing but good for this town. Now some people can't appreciate that and remain shortsighted, but you just ignore them. Heaven knows what Dr. Cullen's children must go through at school with all those close-minded parents filling their heads with bigotry." It was one of the longest speeches Bella had ever heard Charlie make about someone, unless he was complaining about work or warning her about criminals. She settled back in her chair, and Charlie's grip on the steering wheel loosened.

Bella glanced through the windshield at the road ahead. The headlights cast a weak beam into the penetrating darkness and trees leapt in view on either side of the car before melting back into the darkness. Bella glanced into the trees at the very edge of the headlights and looked into the soft darkness. Suddenly, two orbs reflected the light from the headlights before they were swept away in the dark. Bella started. She glanced back, but could see nothing behind her.

She reassured herself that she and Charlie were safe in the car, but she couldn't help glancing into the darkness thinking of all the creatures that might be lurking.

**So good news! Thanksgiving break and I've started writing again! So sorry about the long wait but to be honest although I know where I want the story to go college has been crazy with work and studying and homework. But I am home for a week and finishing chapter 8, and hopefully won't get stuck again in the middle of a chapter. I just don't know how to go about the whole 'finding out that Alice is a vampire and realizing that oh crap Bella likes her'... The other stuff is easy. Anyway, Happy Holiday's everyone and I will at least try to finish 8 and 9 before I see you guys again for winter break where I have a whole month to write and draw and watch marathons of NCIS and Leverage and House... **


	8. Eight

Eight

Hey guys, so in the next two chapters I'm going to try to get Bella and Alice's relationship to progress a bit more, just enough so it would be reasonable for Bella to become suspicious of Alice being not human. Some answers to some of the questions:

DeJee

i think its cute but is Eddy going after bella to? And I hope youll give Jasper a new soulmate its so sad

No, he's just intrigued about why he can't read her. I wanted him to be a likeable character, enough so you can see why they might be attracted to each other, but I think with Bella he feels being flirty is exciting because he can't read her thoughts or reactions. I haven't thought about Jasper's soulmate, I'm not that good at coming up with tons of OC characters so I'll have to think about it a bit.

sollieus

I think it would be interesting for Bella to be a bear just because were-bears are cooler then wolves if you ask me, that and where is the Sula at already she was mentioned like once in passing in the first chapter then nothing... I feel cheated(pouts in the corner)

Sorry for leaving Sula out for so long, but I felt it was important that Bella never believed in supernatural creatures until she met Alice, and more importantly that after meeting Alice she doesn't think Sula is one. That way she will be surprised when she finds out Sula is a werebear and Edward won't ruin everything by reading her mind and telling her

I don't own Twilight, SM does, and I already have plans for Bella and Sula's meet up (hint Bella hits her with her car by accident), as well as Sula's soulmate. I still haven't thought about what to turn Bella into, it depends on whatever evil I can conjure up to injure her enough to turn her into something… mwahaha evil….

Bella awoke on Monday to gray skies, but no rain. She dressed in the usual sweatshirt and jeans, and grabbed her school bag before heading downstairs. Charlie was leaning against the kitchen counter, fully dressed with his gun in his holster, and talking on the phone. He seemed to be discussing the deaths of the hikers, because he was scowling and looked to be in a foul mood. Bella put her bag by the door when she smelled the burning. Whirling around she spotted a neglected egg on the stove, which was burnt so badly that it looked like a lump in the metal instead of something edible.

"Charlie!" Bella half whispered half hissed as she rushed over to turn off the stove. Charlie frantically mouthed his apology, but he had to return his attention to the person on the phone, so he left the kitchen and sat on the sofa.

Bella dropped the burnt pan in the sink and ran warm, then cold water over the pan slowly. She tried to scrape off the burnt egg with a spatula, but when it didn't come off immediately she gave up and dropped it into a tub of warm soppy water to soak. She grabbed a bowl of cereal instead, and rejoined Charlie at the dining room table.

"—I've tried to talk to him but he is adamant about not letting the boy talk to the police. Yes I can go pick him up now, but are you sure it wasn't a bear or something? Have you talked to Rich about getting the K-9 out to look. If we have a rabid animal on the loose we should inform the public, not keep it quiet…. I see. Fine, I'll go get the boy and be around the station at nine." Charlie hung up and put the phone back in the kitchen before returning with his coffee.

"Hi Bells, how did you sleep?" He asked, sipping his coffee, which was cold, and sighing.

"Fine I guess. They think the boy was attacked by an animal." Charlie grimaced, partially from the cold coffee and partially at Bella's question.

"No, well the killings match the ones found outside of Seattle, but the marks are like nothing anyone has ever seen. A bear would have just torn the bodies up, and any kind of cat or wolf would have left distinct claw marks. There were no signs of feeding either, apart from being bled out. I'm sorry, this isn't breakfast talk. Ready for your second week of school." Bella rolled her eyes and Charlie gave a chuckle.

"I have to go Bells, I'll see you later tonight." He got up and ruffled her hair. Bella remained seated, looking at nothing in particular until she heard Charlie grab his keys and stump out the door. The killings bothered her, as they would bother anyone, but she was reminded of the eerie eyes she had seen in the forest on the drive home with Charlie that Friday. Some animal, a large one, was lurking somewhere in the forest.

Bella drove to school slowly, although she didn't have much of a choice, her truck would give a shuddering groan if she pushed fifty, and by the time it was warmed up she had already reached school. The students were milling about the parking lot, but Bella didn't fail to notice that the shiny Volvo and red BMW weren't there. She spotted Angela and Ben as she got out of her truck. Katie, Mike, and Eric, who were standing with them, seemed to be trying to convince them of something, but Angela kept shaking her head.

"Hey," said Bella as she walked up to the group, blushing slightly as everyone turned to her almost simultaneously.

"Good morning," Angela said quietly, smiling warmly, "How was your weekend?" Bella shrugged but before she could answer Mike jumped in. He had walked around Eric and was now standing next to Bella, grinning widely at her.  
"Hey Bella!" His voice was loud and Bella winced a little, reminded of Jacobs booming laugh, which could rupture eardrums. Mike wasn't nearly as big as Jake, but his over eagerness matched Jake's quiet well.

"Hi Mike." She said, and she noticed that Lauren was glaring daggers at her. She ducked her head slightly and blushed, but it seemed to make Lauren angrier.

"So Bella, Mike and Eric want us to all go to La Push on Saturday, and go surfing before the water becomes to cold." Katie said, but she rolled her eyes in Mike's direction. "Not that it's not freezing already; you said you were going to bring drysuits, but I swear to god if you don't I'm not going to freeze my ass off in the water." Mike just laughed, but Bella noticed that he was looking at her with that same hungry look that she had seen some of the other boys give her on her first day.

"So Bella you wanna come along? To the beach I mean?" Bella hadn't planned on returning to La Push so soon, but she supposed it would be nice to go instead of sitting at home all weekend.

"Sure, I guess." Mike beamed and Angela seemed pleased although she frowned slightly.

"I'm not going in the water though, there is no way. Bella, why don't I give you my number so we can work out the carpool." Bella nodded and skirted around Mike, who was whining to Angela now, and got Angela's number. Everyone joked around for a few more minutes, until Bella heard a monstrous car engine pull into the student lot. A giant Jeep pulled into the spot that the red BMW usually sat, and Bella watched as Emmett and Rosalie Cullen got out. Emmett leaned against the hood of the car, Rosalie leaning against him as they waited for their siblings.

Bella watched them out of the corner of her eye, but she turned more fully towards them when she heard a second car pull up. The silver Volvo containing Edward, Alice, and Jasper pulled in the lot next to the Jeep and the Cullen's got out smoothly. Jasper held open Alice's door and she skipped out, kissing him lightly on the cheek. She turned her head, first to her siblings next to the Jeep, and then towards Bella and her friends.

Bella blushed at having been caught staring, but she couldn't look away. She and Alice shared a gaze, Alice smiling brightly and Bella blushing furiously before she looked away. Instead of moving towards the door however, Alice skipped towards Bella, and Bella could hear the blonde, Rosalie, hiss something in irritation.

"I'll be just a minute." Alice said dismissively, waving a delicate hand at her siblings who started to walk inside.

"How was your weekend Bella?" Alice asked brightly, ignoring Mike's ogling stare. Angela alone seemed to have manners, and she began to engage Katie, Ben, and Eric back in a conversation, but Mike and Lauren continued to stare obviously at Bella and Alice.

"It was fine. I didn't do much. How about you?" Alice gave a giggle and grabbed Bella by the arm and began skipping towards the school. Bella didn't skip with her, so Alice's skipping turned to her bouncing impatiently up and down as Bella walked slowly.

"Come on, the bell is going to ring." She said, and a second later it did and Alice practically pulled Bella's arm out of her socket as she dragged her, Bella only resisting half-heartedly. The other students outside reluctantly began to file in, and the rest of the Cullen's began to move forward too, following Bella and Alice at a distance. Jessica had caught up with Lauren, and Lauren was now whispering furiously at her, casting glances at Bella. No doubt complaining about her. Alice noticed the direction of Bella's gaze and giggled.

"Lauren thinks you like Mike and you're trying to 'steal her man' or something." Bella rolled her eyes and sighed, making Alice burst out in another round of pealing giggles. Bella blushed slightly but Alice just laughed more.

"Come on Bella, you move so slow!" Alice whined, pulling on Bella's arm, still bouncing up and down in place.

Alice pulled Bella to the lockers, where they went separate ways, only after Alice made Bella promise to sit with her during lunch. Bella went to class with a goofy grin plastered on her face, a side effect of being with the jubilant Alice.

Her grin slid off her face as she entered her English class and saw the only available seat was next to Mike Newton. He waved at her enthusiastically and she gave more of a grimace than a smile.

By the end of the morning her smile had turned into a permanent grimace, as she swerved through the halls, shoulders hunched, attempting to avoid Mike and Jessica. Jessica seemed intent on squeezing Bella's brain for any detail she might have missed that morning when the Cullen's had swooped down and stolen Bella from them, or rather Alice had swopped down and stolen Bella from Mike. Lauren seemed to be trying a new strategy with the most recent development of Bella's closeness with the Cullens, and was ignoring Bella completely. This suited Bella just fine, and in fact was an improvement to the angry glares and hissing sounds that usually came from Lauren's direction.

By lunch Bella felt completely drained, and she closed her locker with such little force that it swung open again and caught on her jacket. Feeling embarrassed she slammed it shut and hurried into the cafeteria to join the lunch line. She was so distracted that she almost forgot that she had promised to sit with Alice, and was heading over to the table with Ben, Katie, and Angela, when someone grabbed her arm.

"Hey, aren't you forgetting something?" A tinkling voice said behind her. Bella turned quickly and came nose to nose with Alice, or nose to hair, as Alice was shorter than her. Bella took a small step back, and tripped over her foot, and leaned precariously back. Alice reached out in a flash and grabbed Bella's waist, but Bella being mostly uncoordinated grabbed the collar of Alice's shirt, making them jerk forward. There was a loud thump.

Alice had managed to catch Bella before she fell completely on her back, so instead Bella landed awkwardly on her butt, her hand still gripping Alice's collar in a death grip and Alice crouched over awkwardly her looking utterly surprised.

"Uhh I, sorry, I.." Bella began flustered as Alice blinked at her blankly. Bella blushed furiously as Alice's face turned into a wide grin and she burst into a fit of giggles.

"Are you alright?" She asked in between giggles as she helped Bella sit up. Bella blushed even harder and gave a hiss for Alice to shut up, but Alice seemed to be unable to be stopped. Finally she seemed to compose herself enough to gasp out.

"I think you're safe now Bella, I think you can let go." Bella glanced down; hand was still clamped around Alice's wadded collar.

"Oh sorry!" She said and let go quickly, watching the crumpled collar flatten slightly, looking distinctly ruffled. Alice just continued to giggle and reached up to adjust her collar, smoothing out her shirt. Bella couldn't help noticing a black bra strap peaking out on her collarbone, and she blushed and averted her eyes.

"So now that that's over with, you want lunch?" Alice asked, and Bella nodded quickly. They both stood up simultaneously, but while Alice did it with grace, Bella swayed a bit and bumped her head against Alice's.

"Sorry!" She moaned, but this seemed to set Alice off again and she continued to giggle uncontrollably as she led Bella to a nearby table.

Bella pulled out a chair and set her food down, noticing that some of the suspicious looking stew had mixed with the more edible looking salad. Alice sat across from her, still giggling, and watched as Bella started to eat.

"Uhh, Alice, you still aren't you going to eat anything?" Bella asked, as Alice continued to stare at her. Alice blinked, and smiled widely at Bella before reaching down into her backpack.

"Sitting with you at lunch _has _made me want to have lunch too, so I asked Esme to make me something." She produced a thermos and began unscrewing it. Bella turned back to her food but heard a booming laugh cut off into a grunt. Still with her fork in the air Bella turned and saw the rest of the Cullen's sitting at their usual table. Emmett seemed to have just begun to laugh, but by the evident elbow still against his side, Rosalie had just prevented him from saying something. Rosalie glanced over, and Bella quickly turned back towards Alice. Alice was now drinking from the thermos, disregarding the small plastic cover that served as a cup.

"What is it? A special protein drink or something?" Bella asked as Alice put down the thermos and licked her lips.

"Something like that yeah." For some reason Emmett seemed to break out into a fit of laughter again, which was suppressed with some difficulty by Rosalie and Jasper, as they were both attempting not to laugh as well. Bella once again the odd feeling that although the Cullen's were across the cafeteria in a room full of noisy teenagers, that they could hear every word going on between Alice and Bella. Bella watched as Alice finished off the thermos, a small smirk on the corner of her lips. Bella noticed that she quickly glanced over at her siblings, who were also grinning, except for Edward who was looking sulkily towards them.

Alice seemed to notice Bella watching her and quickly flashed her a smile.

"They're just jealous because Esme doesn't make _them _delicious homemade food for lunch instead of this..." She broke off and glanced at the mystery stew that Bella was only eating halfheartedly. Bella rolled her eyes and stabbed her fork in a piece of meat that also could have been a hardened onion.

"I know, this could be squirrel or coyote or something and you'd never know because it tastes all the same." Instead of giggling, Alice glared at the meat briefly and then looked darkly toward the kitchen.

"Trust me, there is no squirrel or coyote in there, if there was I would have a _serious _talk with the staff, if they ever got you sick.." When she noticed Bella staring at her she giggled quickly.

"I mean, well, you're right it is gross looking but I doubt they would put any wild animal meat in it, that would be a violation against a few health codes." Over at the Cullen table, Emmett had started laughing, and Bella noticed him doing an impression of what appeared to be a squirrel getting boiled. Rosalie seemed to have given up on restraining Emmett, and was looking at her plate of mystery meat as though hoping there was a squirrel in it so she would have the excuse to rain down on someone else.

Edward was still watching them, or rather Bella, with such intensity that Bella shifted slightly in her seat and turned away from him. Alice noticed, and she shot her brother a death glare before turning back to Bella and rolling her eyes.

"Sorry about Edward, he's just a little angry that I'm not eating lunch with the family as much. Also, I think it's getting close to his time of the month, so he can be extra sensitive." Bella let out a giggle that became a choke as she inhaled a piece of onion masquerading as meat. Alice concernedly leaned over and placed a hand on Bella's back, causing Bella to blush and choke. Emmett was laughing at the other table, and Edward seemed decidedly huffy about something, and he had turned back to his plate and broken the small plastic fork.

Once Bella was able to breathe again, she couldn't help thinking how odd it was that she had readily begun to accept the fact that the Cullen family had super hearing. Because Bella was almost certain that Emmett had been laughing at the conversation that Bella and Alice were having, despite being halfway across the cafeteria. She glanced over again and saw Edward staring at her, the remnants of his plastic fork still in his hand. She blushed and looked towards Alice who seemed annoyed for single moment before continuing to talk brightly.

"So because you've already been here for so long you don't really need a tour anymore, so I was thinking this weekend maybe we could go shopping up in Port Angeles? I can pick you up and drive you if you want?" Alice looked so excited that momentarily Bella forgot that she had hastily made plans to go to the beach with Angela and the others.

"I, oh wait I can't. I'm sorry Alice." Bella said quickly as Alice's face dropped and she began to give Bella puppy eyes. Bella had to admit Alice was very good at it, and Bella felt guilty as she watched Alice attempt to lay as much charm on as possible to change Bella's mind. Bella stared into Alice's eyes as long as she could, the caramel colored eyes that seemed to be formed of little rays of light receding into darker pools of color. The lighter rays of light were contrasted with the darker browns that surrounded the pupil, and Bella became lost in the depth of those golden eyes. She didn't seem to notice the noise of the cafeteria, or Emmett laughing from the other table. It wasn't until Alice moved her head slightly did Bella snap into focus to see Alice giggling at her.

"Uhh sorry, what? Did you say something?" Bella asked stupidly, feeling her cheeks flame red again. Alice just laughed quietly and shook her head, and Bella watched the spiky tips of her hair move as Alice moved her head.

"Nope, it's just you seemed very deep in thought. It's alright that you can't make it, but I might just have to drag you out of class on Friday then and go for a quick trip." Bella groaned and leaned back, forsaking the food on her plate. Alice giggled and leaned closer, quirking her lips as she thought aloud.

"Of course it will take a little under an hour to drive there, so we would only be able to get four or five hours of shopping done, minus an hour for dinner so… Well I guess it's a start." Bella gaped at her.

"Only four or five hours!? I don't think I've ever gone on such a long shopping trip in my life." Bella said but was cut off by Alice, who now had a rapt look on her face as she planned that coming Friday.

"Well I suppose if we skipped gym we would have more time so we could leave earlier and take my car, although if we took Edward's we could get there quicker, but his is so ugly I don't know if I could stand being in it for so long…."

"Uhh, Alice?" Bella asked, and when Alice didn't respond Bella gently tapped Alice on the hand. Alice looked up beaming.

"Yes Bella?" Bella blushed at Alice's smile, but warded off Alice's alluring eyes long enough to make a final attempt at her plea to not go shopping.

"Do we have to go shopping? I mean, I'm assuming you mean clothes shopping and I don't really do.." But Alice waved her hand dismissively and continued with her planning.

"Don't be silly I'm taking you clothes shopping, anyway, if we left before gym that would give us six or seven hours, and then about thirty minutes to get back. Yeah I think that will be good…" Bella was about to interrupt again when the bell rang, and Alice stood up quickly and did a mini pirouette before scooping up Bella's half eaten lunch.

"So I'll see you before gym class on Friday alright? Well of course I'll see you before then but make sure you tell Police Chief Swan that I stealing you on Friday." Bella stood up too, making a grab for the tray but Alice whisked it away and Bella was forced to follow her to the garbage cans.

"Uhh, sure, I guess. But you know it takes more than an hour to get to Port Angeles right?" Alice just smirked and slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Not the way I drive."

When Bella pulled into the driveway Charlie's car was still missing. The house was dark and quiet, and Bella only bothered to turn the kitchen light on. The only sounds were the fridge humming and the heat occasionally turning on. Bella quietly unpacked her school things and did her homework by the fading light in her room. Around six she stirred and glanced outside, the sky was almost pitch black. She turned on her desk lamp and the sudden light made her flinch. She went downstairs and proceeded to make a simple dinner, and then returned to her room to finish her work.

At around eight she lay down and picked up a library book she hadn't finished and began to read, but found herself rereading passages over and over again. Despite the silence, her mind was still racing, still thinking about the school day, the Cullen's, and Alice. Bella put her book on her chest and closed her eyes, and immediately she thought of Alice. The corners of Bella's mouth twitched just as they always did when she thought of Alice. The bright light of her desk lamp seemed to dim, and Bella found herself so relaxed, so comfortable, that she drifted off to sleep. She didn't wake up when Charlie arrived, and she didn't wake up even when he called her name. Charlie stomped upstairs, and opened the door a crack. Smiling, he shuffled in quietly and turned off the light, and gently put a blanket over the sleeping Bella.

Bella slept soundly, still dressed and still with the book on her chest, and her last thought was of Alice.

Bella awoke slowly, first stretching her hands, and then her legs. She lay for a few minutes in a blissful sleepy stupor before she jerked upwards. The book fell off her chest and hit the floor with a soft thud. Bella first registered that she was still in her clothes from yesterday, and then secondly registered that the sun was already peaking through the trees. Stiffly Bella rose, throwing aside the tangle of sheets and blankets and picking up her book. After a hot shower and redressing, Bella walked downstairs to see Charlie sitting at the kitchen counter.

"Hey kiddo, sleep well?" He asked, grinning up at her. Bella nodded, and went straight for the hot kettle on the stove to make some tea.

"You were already asleep when I got home, school isn't stressing you out is it?" Charlie asked from behind the newspaper.

"Not really, I just was reading and I guess I fell asleep." Bella said, grabbing a seat next to him with an apple and a hot cup of tea.

"Friday Alice wants to go shopping and then Saturday Angela and some others want to go to La Push. Is it alright if I go?"

"Alice Cullen? Where are you guys going to go?" Charlie asked, sipping his coffee.

"Uhh, she wants to got to Port Angeles, leave right from school." Bella didn't feel it necessary to tell Charlie that she and Alice were planning on skipping last period, and she eagerly waited for him to reply so she could change the subject.

"Port Angeles is quite far, has Alice driven there before?" Charlie asked, flipping a page in the newspaper.

"Yes." Bella lied, she had no idea whether Alice had been to Port Angeles before, and she glanced at the clock. Now that she thought about it, she didn't know much about Alice Cullen at all. Aside from her super-spedup introduction, Alice hadn't bothered to talk more about herself. Bella knew she loved her family, but she had no idea why her family had chosen to move to Forks at all.

"Well I suppose it's alright, but I hope you know that that truck you got isn't going to make the trip. And you're going with some friends to La Push on Saturday, with Angela? Angela… Weber, did you say it was?"

"Yeah, and I know my truck won't make it, we're taking Alice's." Bella said a bit impatiently, and looked at the clock. She had twenty minutes to get to school.

"Well I suppose it's alright, as long as you get your homework done. And don't stay out too late, not past eleven alright?" Charlie said slowly, and turned to give Bella a glare.

"Alright. I'm going to school." Bella said quickly, and whizzed upstairs to gather her things. Entering her room, she tripped, and the stubbed her foot on her closet. Ignoring the pain and still in full gear, she grabbed her school things and her raincoat before turning to the window and realizing that the sun was out. Still stuffing her rain jacket into her bag she hurried downstairs. Charlie was still slowly sipping his coffee and her nodded at Bella as she grabbed her keys and hurried out the door.

Bella pulled into the parking lot just as the bell rang. Jumping out she locked the door and hurried toward the school with the other students, most of who were basking in the sun or playing a game of Frisbee. Glancing over she noticed that the red BMW and the Volvo were not in their usual spots, and Bella realized that the Cullen's must have gone camping. She felt a twinge of disappointment but it quickly evaporated when Angela approached her and they walked to class.

By lunchtime Bella severely missed Alice, even the other Cullen's. While she did not enjoy Rosalie's silent glares, she would have traded them in an instant for Lauren's openly rude behavior. Bella sat next to Angela and Mike, and Lauren, who couldn't sit next to Mike, chose to sit opposite from Bella. The entire lunch, Lauren managed to 'accidently' kick Bella in the shins. Bella was sure she had bruises but got vindictive satisfaction when Mike accidently flicked a spoonful of chili on Lauren's shirt when he was aiming for Tyler's head.

Bella went home grumpy, as in PE class she had fallen over twice and managed to hit most of her team with the ball by accident during the volleyball match. Her shins were sore from Lauren kicking her, and her butt was sore from falling onto the gym floor so many times. If only Alice had been there, cheerfully picking her up before hitting a bull's-eye on some poor player in revenge for hitting Bella. It hadn't even been a month, and yet Bella was so comfortable with Alice's presence, that her absence made Bella grumpy.

Bella went to bed early, forsaking math homework in favor of the book she failed to finish the previous night. But even after finishing it she still felt angry, if only she could have told Alice about her day, about how horrible Laruen was or how PE class should be listed in one of the top ways to injure your body and your pride simultaneously. Bella groaned and rolled over, lying and looking out the window. She watched as the sky darkened to black and then stared out trying to see something. Finally she gave up and changed her clothes and returned to her bed, shutting the light off. In the moment that she shut the light off, Bella thought she saw something move in the tree lines below her window, but when her eyes adjusted, there was nothing but darkness.

So guys, I've been on winter break and have been so unproductive it's been amazing... Aside from playing Pokemon black 2 and watching the mentalist I haven't been doing much of anything... I finished this right as break started, and have just started 9, but being home and not having work is distracting...


	9. Some questions answered

Some questions answered, and yes I am working on Chapter 9 but I suddenly realized 'oh shit I'm going back to school in two days, maybe I should get my books and figure out my work schedule!'

segir 1/8/13 . chapter 8

I am voting for were-bear!  
I read that the black bear is the only bear species in Arizona. The question really does come down to a few important issues thou. Is the bear like the wolves… genetic or is it contagious? If it is contagious does it happen fast of slow. If it is slow then having Bella hurt in a car wreck and bite by Sula will not be a great help, but if fast then Sula could 'save' Bella after getting hit by her. (It would be ironic if Bella was on her way to see Alice at home). If inherited what genetic background would Bella have and if a mixed background (as most European/ Caucasian Americans are) which holds stronger sway over Bella? Is it something that can be influenced such as since Bella met Sula and liked Arizona more would she turn into a black bear over a wolf?

I personally hate when Bella is a wolf and has to bow down to Sam but if needs be I can handle it when she forms her own pack (i.e. Leah). If you are trying to be different, and so far you are doing a good job of that, I would say make Bella a bear and have Sula be her teacher. Looking forward to more. ps can bella hurt mike? just a little bit .. please? lol.

Bella hurting Mike is in the future yes, because I find him highly annoying. I wasn't planning on having it be genetic, more like Bella gets bitten because her life is in danger/she is dying. Whether that is a bite from a werebear or a vampire is yet to be seen.

ShadowCub 1/1/13 . chapter 8

Can we have some Leah and get rid of Jacob?

He's as creepily, crazy as Edward.

I know :) I'm trying to grow his presence in the story simply because he is a creep and as much as I am trying to resist making him and Edward semi villains, it's just too easy.

So since people have been asking about Sula so much, which I find fascinating, I guess I'll provide some explanation. Sula was born a werebear, and her ancestry lies in the Haida, a Native American tribe in British Columbia. In this particular society, the belief is that werebears originated from people attempting to transform themselves into animals, or animal spirits that would camouflage themselves as humans and have children with them.

Sula is the latter, her ancestors were humans who would lay with spirit animals, and as a result her family is able to transform involuntarily into werebears. If Sula were not a werebear, she would be much shorter and have black hair, but when she first transformed as a child her hair gradually turned white and she grew much taller than her peers. Werebears live solitary lives as adults and Sula in particular enjoys traveling from lake to lake around Canada and the northern US.

Sula's werebear form is based off of the Kermode bear, google it :), which means she is a white black bear and not a polar bear (which was my original idea).

Because the werebears do not transform at will, instead following the lunar cycle, when the moon is smaller or during the new moon, they are almost regular humans. As you will see when Bella accidently hits Sula with her car (because Sula's an airhead who doesn't look both ways before crossing the street) Sula has only slightly accelerated healing if the full moon is not close. She does have more-than-normal strength but nothing like the shape shifter wolves, and when approaching the full moon she can transform her hands into claws and grow fangs if she is enraged, but can't forcibly change.

Unlike in HP with Professor Lupin, Sula doesn't completely lose her head during the full moon, but she does become more bearlike and sometimes even stays transformed during the day.

She can transform people into werebears by biting them when she is transformed, but it is not a life she would chose for anyone due to occupational hazards. Since werebears smell differently than normal humans and might be deemed as a threat by other non-human creatures, but during the new moon they cannot defend themselves, the life of a werebear can be quite dangerous, which is why Sula prefers not to transform people.

I hope this answered your questions, and I assure you Sula will return, and hopefully you guys will like her.

I did a quick sketch of what I thought she would look like, and while it's nowhere realistic it's just a reference but I don't know how to post it? So I'll figure that out and try to put it up…


	10. Nine

Chapter 9

Hey guys, spring semester has begun... :( I am finishing this chapter to put me to sleep, since I have been sleeping poorly all week. Here I just wanted to get us to Friday but I figured I would do this instead. Once the first shopping trip is over I will do a proper first date, then speed things up a month or two so we can meet Sula! I don't own Twilight SM does or I would take cute Alice for myself...

Washington weather seemed to be teasing the residence of Forks, and Bella Swan in particular. The entire week was warm and sunny, not a gray cloud in the sky, and completely uncharacteristic for mid-November Forks weather. Although Bella enjoyed the momentary warmth, as the week progressed she got continually more cranky. And the source? The Cullen's were still on their camping trip, or at least they hadn't come to school all week.

Thursday, Bella woke up and saw the sunlight and growled, rolled over and buried herself in the covers. The week had been terrible without Alice. Bella was starting to wonder if she had Alice fever, or some other disease that could only be cured by seeing pale white skin and amber eyes. On her drive to school, Bella drove especially slow. She almost considered skipping, but didn't know where she would go even if she did skip. When she arrived, she didn't even bother looking over at the two parking spots that the Cullen's usually occupied, instead she walked straight to her locker and gave the death glare to any onlookers.

"Bella?" Bella turned around, frowning. But it was Angela, kind and gentle as ever, looking concerned.

"Are you feeling alright? You seem a little upset." Bella rolled her eyes and gave a grunt, and Angel was kind enough to overlook Bella's lack of manners and drop the subject.

"If you aren't feeling well, maybe you should ask Coach Clapp if you can sit out of gym class today, I'm sure he'd understand." Angela said quietly as they walked to their first class. Bella knew Angela was misinterpreting her grumpiness from a lack of Alice for her period, but Bella decided that she might as well skip gym and save everyone the trouble. With or without Alice around, Bella regardless became the target for any misfortune related to flying balls. Bella nodded but didn't speak as she saw Jessica bounding towards them, looking like an overexcited cocker spaniel with her hair flying behind her like ears.

As Jessica joined them, Bella remained silent and moody, still fighting her Cullen related fever. Imagining Jessica Stanley as a Cocker Spaniel did a little to lift her spirits though, and she spent the rest of first period imagining Jessica as a dog in clothes.

By lunchtime Bella had spoken hardly five words all morning, and she glared over at the usual Cullen table, which sat empty in the corner. Bella had never had a close friend, in Phoenix or in Forks, but she felt as though she trusted Alice almost completely, and had come to rely on her. It was an unnerving feeling, Bella decided, as she stabbed a tomato slice with her fork repeatedly, to realize that someone like Alice who had just been introduced into her life could significantly change her life so quickly. What was weirder, was that aside from talking in school, Bella didn't hang out with Alice or talk to her outside of school, so her missing her was even more confusing.

"Bella?" Angela asked, and she gently tapped Bella on the shoulder. "I think it's dead now." Bella glanced down to see the tomato slice a pile of mush, and Bella was now stabbing the plate where the tomato had been. No one beside Angela seemed to have noticed Bella's tomato slaughter; Lauren and Jessica were too busy fawning over Mike, and Eric, Ben, and Katie seemed to be making more plans for the beach.

"You've been awfully quiet today, do you still think you want to come to the beach with us this Saturday?" Angela asked, and at this Mike looked up.

'Whoa, hey you're still coming with us right Bella? I mean it will be fun, and you get to watch Katie and Ben dress like ninjas and make asses of themselves as they fall off their boards." Lauren gave a pout and tried to turn Mike's attention back to her, but when Mike seemed to ignore her, she sighed and shot Bella a nasty glare.

"I don't know, I mean I'll probably go." Bella said and now not only Mike but Ben and Eric also turned to look at her, making her blush.

"Why, what's up? Not feeling well?" Eric asked, and Katie quickly stole a french fry from his plate.

"Uh, kind of, I'll probably be fine though." Bella said quietly, blushing harder. She wished they would stop staring, and almost wanted Lauren to start loudly talking with Mike again so she could go back to her peaceful silence. Angela seemed to understand so she nodded.

"Alright, well, you have my number so if you don't feel well on Saturday just text me and let me know. Anyway, Ben, are you and Katie really planning to go surfing? The water is freezing." Ben shrugged as Katie stole more of his fries.

"Well that's what the dry suits are for, Mike's dad gave us a discount on a few last year, so I'd figure I'd try them out. What about you? You wanna try surfing?" Angela made a face and shook her head.

"Even with a suit on the water is still freezing, and I don't feel like dressing up like a ninja with that mask and gloves…" Ben just rolled his eyes, and began discussing with Mike and Eric the best wetsuits and drysuits.

Bella felt her mind wandering back to Alice, and she sat daydreaming for the rest of the lunch period. What she was daydreaming about she couldn't remember when the bell rang, but Alice's smell seemed to linger in the air for a fleeting moment before the sound of everyone getting up came back in a rush.

"Hey Bella? Are you alright? Class is about to start." Angela said, touching Bella's arm gently.

"I'm fine." Bella said with a slight smile, standing and walking out of the cafeteria, looking at the Cullen table out of the corner of her eye.

Bella thought that she would have to wait until Friday afternoon to see Alice, but as she pulled into her driveway Thursday night she noticed another car sitting in front of the house. The silver Volvo was parked outside her door, and when Bella pulled up next to it, she saw that there was only one person inside. As she got out slowly, the driver of the silver Volvo also opened their door, and Alice stepped out.

"Hi Bella!" She said cheerfully, and skipped around the back of her car to meet Bella. Bella felt her heart skip a beat, and suddenly it was as though her bad mood had been lifted. As Alice came closer, Bella's eyes glanced up and down Alice's figure. She was wearing a loose low yellow shirt and a black leather jacket, with matching tight black pants and high-heeled boots. Bella's mouth feel open slightly and she barely noticed Alice giggling at her. Only when Alice grabbed Bella in a hug did Bella's brain begin to work, and she blushed furiously. Alice smelled like lilacs and Bella breathed in the scent, and a slight shiver went down her spine when she thought she felt Alice inhale as well.

Alice pulled back and flashed Bella a smirk.

"You look happy to see me. How was school?" Bella pulled a face and Alice laughed. She bounced lightly on her feet as she spoke and Bella couldn't help the wide grin that was spreading on her face. She managed to somber up quite a bit when Alice continued with her news.

"Uhh, the truth is Bella, I don't think I'll be able to pick you up right before gym tomorrow. You see, my family just got back from a camping trip, but since the weather is going to be nice again tomorrow our father is taking us on a hiking trip. It will take almost all of the day, mainly because when Rosalie doesn't want to do something she takes _forever _if you try to force her, and trying to force Rosalie to climb a cold and muddy mountain when she doesn't want to is tough. So anyway, I can pick you up a little before six if that's all right. And no I won't take no for an answer, I'm taking you shopping and that's final."

Bella wanted to argue but Alice had on such a stern face that she refrained. Instead, she looked toward the sky in hopes that Forks perpetual rain would save her from a Friday without Alice and a gym class that she couldn't skip.

"Well it's cloudy now, what happens if it rains tomorrow morning? Will you guys still go?" At this Alice looked glum and sulky, and made a cute pout.

"But it won't, tomorrow is going to be beautiful and sunny, which is why Carlisle is taking us all hiking." Alice sighed, but when she noticed Bella watching her with a confused expression she quickly added: "I keep checking the weather online hoping that it will change but it doesn't look like it." Bella just shrugged, and the conversation came to a slow halt. Bella felt uncomfortable and shifted, but while she seemed to have noticed that conversation had come to an awkward halt, Alice just gazed at her, simultaneously drinking her in and looking right past her.

"Uhh, did you want to come inside? I have some of the notes from Biology if you want I can copy them and give them to Edward." Bella didn't really want to give Edward her notes, but she desperately wanted the awkward silence to stop, and for Alice to come inside. Alice beamed at her.

"That would be wonderful! Of course he should probably ask you himself, and thank you, but as the gracious sister I will accept them on his behalf. Have you eaten? Do you want me to cook something?"

Bella lead Alice to the house and unlocked the door, Alice bouncing all the way like a loose cannon. The house was dim, and Bella turned on the kitchen light before dropping her backpack on the counter.

"So are you hungry?" Alice asked, as she gazed around Bella's house.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that, I'm the host here." Bella said, but Alice made a dismissive motion with her hand.

"Nonsense, it's fine. Look, why don't I make us some sandwiches or something while you find those notes for Edward? If that's alright with you, sorry, sometimes I go at full force without considering it's what the other person wants." Alice looked concerned as she crossed to Bella, and Bella briefly gazed into her eyes, which even in the harsh kitchen light seemed so bright and warm.

"Umm, no that's fine. There are plenty of vegetables in the fridge and the bread is over there in that cabinet. Just give me a second to get my notes." Bella went upstairs and began sorting her notes, but she could hear Alice moving around quietly in the kitchen. It was nice having someone other than Charlie in the house, and shortly Bella could smell vegetables cooking.

After retrieving her old notes, Bella walked downstairs to find Alice standing in front of the stove. She was making fried rice with beans and vegetables and as Bella watched Alice crinkled her nose delicately as she added more sauce. Bella felt her heart begin to race a little as she watched, so she cleared her throat and ran her hand nervously through her hair before stepping into the kitchen.

"Wow, you didn't have to go all out Alice, sandwiches would have been fine." Alice turned and smiled at her.

"Oh nonsense, does Charlie like peppers?" Alice asked as she contemplated a bunch of yellow peppers in the fridge.

"Umm he'll eat anything, but really Alice, you don't have to do all this for Charlie and I. What do you want me to do with these notes?" Alice frowned at them slightly, and then jumped a little when the oil in the pan gave a popping noise.

"Uhh, why don't I copy those down and you take over here. I can't tell if these are going to taste good or not, I don't cook often." Bella took the spatula from Alice and began adding more oil to the pan, and the vegetables began crackling in earnest. Bella soon discovered, as Alice sat at the kitchen counter copying her notes quickly, that Alice had added quite a bit of pepper and what appeared to be garlic powder.

"Uh Alice, you added quite a bit of garlic to this." Alice looked up surprised to see Bella grinning at her.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry, I wasn't sure whether you wanted it that way, but I was trying to get rid of the burnt smell. I don't know, I don't cook much so I just sniffed around until I found something that smelled good. I'm sorry!" Until Alice had mentioned it, Bella hadn't noticed a burnt smell, but when she prodded some of the vegetables at the bottom of the pan, she realized they were similar to charcoal briquettes in smell and texture.

In the end, Bella ended up pitching Alice's first batch of stir-fry, and began again. Using leftover pasta and vegetables Bella soon had a decent smell wafting through the kitchen.

"Bella, what does this word say?" Alice asked, leaning over the counter and showing Bella a line in her notes.

"Uhh, corticosteroids I think… I think I'm about done here, do you want some?" Alice shook her head and finished the last page of notes.

"Nope, I'm all set, I think I should be heading home now actually. Esme is making dinner and Edward probably wants his car back. But thanks a lot for the notes, and it was nice hanging out." Noticing that Bella looked a little disappointed Alice smiled.

"Don't worry, I'll see you tomorrow to go shopping!" At this, Bella's frown turned into a scowl and Alice laughed.

"I promise it will be fun, well for me at least." Bella turned off the stove and followed Alice to the doorway. Alice seemed to be dawdling as she put on her coat, and frankly Bella didn't want her to leave either. Bella opened the door, and Alice skipped out, but pivoted suddenly and was face to face with Bella.

There was a brief moment where their eyes met and Bella once again felt her heartbeat pick up, and a strange tightness in her chest. Alice stayed where she was, perfectly still and gazing at Bella, her eyes darker than normal. As Bella watched, Alice's eyes flicked to Bella's and then briefly up and down Bella's figure, which made Bella involuntarily, shiver.

Very slowly, Alice leaned forward, and then seeming to decide something, quickly moved forward and kissed Bella gently on the cheek. She then grabbed Bella, nearly pulling the two of them over, into a hug and bounced back.

Bella stood shocked, as Alice bounced on her feet gleefully, and then turned skipping towards the car.

"Bye Bella! See you tomorrow!" Alice sang, her eyes shining a lighter color than Bella had ever seen. Bella could only stand, mouth slightly open, and arms dangling uselessly by her side as Alice drove away.

What felt like hours went by, but it was only a few minutes, as Bella stood still on the stoop, mouth still slightly open. Alice's lips had been cool, almost cold, and it was slightly wet in the spot where she had kissed Bella's cheek. It took a while for Bella to move, and when she did, she was only making the motions required but not really thinking. Closing the door and locking it, turning the porch light on, and stepping through the dark hallway to the kitchen, the only lit room on the first floor.

The kitchen looked sterile, foreign, as Bella stepped into it. Only moments before, Alice had made it seem so full of life, but now the harsh florescent made the cabinets and bare counters seem even darker and unfamiliar. Bella slumped onto a stool, and glanced down at her notes that Alice had left in a neat stack.

Getting kissed on the cheek by someone was nothing, and usually it meant nothing. But despite it's brevity, Bella felt that at the moment Alice had kissed her, the heavy fog in her brain had lifted. It was as though she had been lifted momentarily up out of a bank of clouds, to the sky, and then immediately dropped back down. As Charlie's car pulled up into the driveway, lights flashing through the windows illuminating the living room, Bella opened her mouth and whispered below the noise of the car.  
"Alice, I think I'm…"

* * *

Park Ranger Benny got out of his Jeep grumbling, pulling on his gloves as the cold air assaulted him. The snow was about three feet deep, and he had spent all morning rescuing hikers from snow-covered trails where they had slipped and fallen or gotten lost. Benny had many things he liked to grumble about, including the rich hikers who went cross-country for the 'experience' but considered it beneath them to stay in a tent, or the ignorant campers who ignored all the campsite rules and left their trash everywhere. Benny had spent the first half of his morning overseeing the power lines running to the office being fixed, so he was already tired of standing in the cold with nothing much to do. And now he was deep in the mountains at the very edge of the sanctuary answering a call that was probably a hoax anyway. Someone had called in just as Benny was taking his boots off in his office, yelling hysterically that there was a ghost in the woods who was walking around half naked and eating raw fish. At first Benny had tried to ignore the call, but when a second one came in from a nearby campsite, claiming that a wild looking man had been seen walking barefoot through the camp, Benny was forced to drive out to check it out. In retrospect, Benny thought it had been a bad idea on the part of the board to put campsites in such remote regions of the sanctuary, but the campers seemed to like it for the 'experience'. The only experience Benny got was hysteric campers calling at night or having to drive out every day to deliver firewood.

Benny's inner grumblings were interrupted by a sudden splashing, and he turned to looked toward the river. The river ran down through the gorge, and the road where he was standing was a good twenty feet higher. Glancing down, at first Benny didn't see anything, but then his eyes widened as he noticed a person. A figure stood a good way up the river, standing on a rock in the middle of the river, trying to get to the other side. The river was completely frozen, but even a fool would know better than to try ones weight on it. Benny was about to call out, when he realized that if he startled the person there was a good chance he would startle them and they would fall in.

So Benny, cursing as he went, made his way down a narrow path in the gorge, slipping and sliding on his ass as he went. Grumbling between his panting breaths, he reached the bottom, his pants soaked and dirty and his feet numb with cold. As he walked alongside the river, he caught a better glimpse of the person standing on the rock. It was a woman, a tall one, with shockingly white hair that seemed brighter than the snow, who was balancing precariously on a rock no bigger than Benny's boot. As Benny got closer, he noticed that the woman was wearing nothing but a vest and a pair of pants, the pant legs damp and muddy from where she had walked in the muddy slush. She wore no shoes, or maybe she had taken them off, and she didn't seemed at all disturbed to be trapped on a rock in the middle of an icy river.

"Umm… Ms.?" Benny called out, calmly and slowly, reaching his hands up as though to catch her even though she was still a great distance away. The woman turned her head sharply, and Benny saw dark brown eyes, and a heavily scared neck. She looked completely calm, and as Benny approached the riverbank she stayed still watching him.

"Why don't you come back this way Ms? It will be safer. You shouldn't try to cross this river, the ice is too thin." The woman just stared balefully at him, and the turned back to her task. Benny was about to open his mouth when CRACK. A tree branch laden with snow broke over the river causing the ice upstream to break. Causing a ripple effect, the ice began to break all around the woman as the water was released from it's icy hold.

"Now Ms. Don't panic but please come over- NO!" Benny shouted the last part as the woman gracefully leapt off the rock and ran over the remaining breaking ice to the other side. As she stepped onto the bank she turned briefly to gaze back at him, her calm eyes glinting with pride, before turning and loping off into the woods.

Benny had no way of catching her, the nearest bridge was a mile away and even then there was no guarantee that if he doubled back to this spot she would be here.

Benny drove back to the office, stopping only once to tell off a camper for lighting a fire too close to his tent. Benny notified the other rangers when he returned, and the local police. Aside from a general description, the only thing he could tell the police was that: "She was heading south. Just walking along in the snow barefoot without a care in the world. All I know is she was heading south."

Surprise ending with Sula huh? I didn't plan that either, I just wanted the time to go faster, so next chapter will be the shopping and then the week after... I really want to get to Sula, and I haven't decided if I want Sula x Leah or a little triangle with Rosalie x Sula and Leah, (but don't worry Rosalie will always love Emmet, because I think Emmet is so funny)...


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